Magic and Spells
by RosieShiba
Summary: In a world where magicians walk amongst the crowds, a little girl is about to be taken into a house where she will find her destiny come true. Dawn was just an orphan until she stepped into Mr Stone's house, then her life changed forever. IS.
1. The Rainy Day

**OK, this is one of those fics that has been started for a while but I've not got any further on it. In hopes that people will actually like it and prompt me to write more, here it is. **

**I think I've threatened to upload it earlier, especially on my blog (which I am attempting to get up and running once again). **

**This fic is based on a set of four children's books called Rose. Really I urge you to buy/read them because they are absolutely amazing! The first chapters are based very much on those books but then this story goes off on a tangent, or so I hope.**

**The plot of this story is as follows:**

**Dawn is an orphaned girl living in an orphanage until one day she is hired by the mysterious Mr Stone, who is a magician working for the King. Dawn falls into a routine of chores, every now and again coming across Mr Stone's grumpy apprentice, Paul, and spoilt daughter, Sapphire-May. Also, there's the moody and trouble finding cat, Drew (yes, Drew is a cat). But then someone breaks into the house and steals Sapphire-May's magic, causing Dawn and Paul to go after the offender and starting the domino affect to Dawn's destiny...  
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**Disclaimer: I own nothing at this point.**

**Chapter One: The Rainy Day**

It was a rainy day on the Sunday when Dawn climbed up the bedroom door to look out the small window. Standing on the bedside cabinet with three dictionaries and an encyclopaedia on her tip toes, she could just see out of the small rectangular window. She was fortunate that this room had a view of the front of St Mary's Orphanage. From her peculiar viewing spot, Dawn could see the row of houses opposite and the road that led further into London.

She watched as parents walked with their children, going who knows where but looking joyful as anything. Dawn smiled as she saw group after group darting around in all sorts of directions. She peered out of her drab life into one that was somewhat better. How she dreamed of being able to walk in the street without Miss Ivy ordering her about. How great would it be to be free?

Yet the view and the dream came to an abrupt end as the encyclopaedia seemingly decided it had had enough and slipped off of the dictionaries, taking Dawn with it. Dawn gave an alerted yell as she landed, thankfully, on a nearby bed. She glanced around to find that she was safe.

"What are you doing?" That was when Dawn jumped. She quickly sat up and stared across the room at her best-friend, Leona. The auburn haired girl peered anxiously at Dawn with jade eyes. Dawn let out a nervous giggled as she got to her feet. She brushed down her dress quickly and turned her attention to Leona.

"I was just… cleaning," Dawn explained quickly, "I thought I saw a spider."

"Oh," Leona said, suddenly not very interested in Dawn at all. Leona sat down on her assigned bed and took something from her pocket. Dawn didn't need to look over to see what the object was, she already knew. It was a small tin locket that belonged to Leona's mother or father or relative. It was slightly crushed like it had been run over by a carriage or something. It was broken and cracked, scuffed and scratched, but Leona treasured that locket more than anything. She stared at it with a strange smile on her face.

"What do you think they are like, Dawn?" Leona asked, "My mother and my father?"

"I don't know," Dawn replied, walking towards Leona's bed and perching on the edge of it. Dawn doubted very much that Leona's parents were still alive, after all they were stuck in an orphanage, but Leona was sure that they were living. And rich. Living and rich, that's all any of the girls thought about. Lily's parents had given her up because their business had flopped. Rebecca's mother had died while her father was fighting in the war and she was waiting for his return. Zoey was the most outrageous story with her being kidnapped from her parents in India and sold to gypsies in the East End of London before being abandoned. Apparently her parents were still looking for her.

Dawn didn't care about her family. They were gone. They had left her. She had been found by the vicar beside a gravestone. The vicar had handed Dawn over to Miss Ivy who had named her after the time she was found. Dawn much preferred her name to that of Bertha which it would have been if the Vicar had anything to do with it. Thankfully, Miss Ivy took a dim view on the name Bertha and settled for Dawn.

"I bet they're out there somewhere," Leona went on, "They own a bathhouse in… Bath. That's where all the great baths are but baths are very good places to raise children because the water is so hot and the company is so upper class so they sent me to an evil aunt's house and she left me in a park where I was picked up by a police man and brought here."

Dawn rolled her eyes as her best friend rambled on about her parents. Leona stopped suddenly and gave Dawn an annoyed look.

"Come on, Dawn," Leona said, "You've got to have thought about your parents."

Dawn thought for a few minutes. They had left her in the churchyard by a gravestone that had been there so long the name on it had disappeared. She'd been left in a basket made out of willow and a thin blanket. She had been abandoned. She had no idea why but she had been.

"You could be a little more hopeful," Leona snapped, "Like me. I bet you my mother comes for me within a month."

"You've said that every month for seven years," Dawn told her friend sternly. Dawn thought about it for a few minutes. Maybe her parents had died and some relative of there's had got rid of Dawn because they could bear to look at her. Her mother must have died during child birth and her father before then. That must be the story.

"I mean it this time," Leona said, "I feel it in my heart. She's coming for me!"

"Alright, alright," Dawn said, "I believe you. She'll be coming for you _this_ month."

"Yes!" Leona yelled happily. Dawn rolled her eyes once more.

Something strange happened next. As Dawn looked up to the ceiling she saw something most odd. She saw Leona being hugged by a woman with a man stood behind them. Leona looked so happy as did the two adults.

"Are you OK, Dawn?" Leona asked, pulling Dawn out of her thoughts. Dawn shook her head to shake off whatever the vision was. She smiled at Leona.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"You zoned out for a few minutes there," Leona told her, "Have you been reading that horrible encyclopaedia again?"

Dawn let out a nervous giggle but shook her head.

"I believe you, Leona," Dawn muttered suddenly, "I think your parents will come for you very soon."

"Really?" Leona asked. Dawn nodded. "I knew they would come for me!"

Dawn tossed and turned that night in bed. It was strange but for a few weeks she had had these real life dreams that seemed too real to be just dreams. Sweat poured from her forehead as she twitched violently in the small metal bed. Her thin blanket was only round her feet now since she had thrown it off of her.

She couldn't believe what she saw. A man with a long face and dark hair. He was wearing strange clothes that looked like they were robes but Dawn couldn't be sure. They were blood red in colour. It fastened with one mother of pearl button revealing that the man was wearing a black waistcoat and a white shirt with some trousers underneath the robe. He looked scary.

Dawn tried to back away from him but found she couldn't move. The man walked towards her, raising his hand up to her face. Dawn screamed but no sound was let out. She wanted to run, she wanted to escape but there was no where to go. She couldn't move.

There was a bright flash of light from behind the man. Dawn glimpsed a shadowed figure in the distance as the other man fell to the ground.

"Dawn, get up," the shadow figure told her.

"I can't," Dawn replied.

"Dawn, get up!" Leona yelled making Dawn jump and fall out of bed. She landed on the icy cold floor with a slap. Leona glared down at her friend with a look of annoyance and distaste.

"Sorry," Dawn apologised, "What's going on?"

"There's someone here looking for a new servant girl," Leona told Dawn, "You'd better be up and dressed if you want to have a chance to get out of here."

"OK," Dawn said weakly as she got off the floor.

Ten minutes later, Dawn was stood wearing a tattered grey dress and scuffed brown boots. The dress was thin and itchy against Dawn's skin but she had gotten used to it. She'd been in the orphanage all her life, the full ten years of it. She was used to the icy wash water, the itchy clothes and the horrible food. It was all she had ever known. She didn't miss anything from her life before. There was nothing from before.

She stood at the end of her bed with a straight back as Miss Ivy opened the door of the room. All the other girls quickly took the same position at the ends of their beds. It was a common occurrence so they were well trained to react quickly. Only one girl was delayed but then again she had only come to the orphanage last week so she could be forgiven for now.

Miss Ivy was a strict purple haired woman with brown eyes. She usually wore a red dress and today was no different. She glanced at the girls as she inspected them but she was not alone. Behind her followed a woman with brown hair and brown eyes. This woman's hair was tied up in a bun and she was wearing a long black dress. It looked like a service dress, the kind the maids in the posh houses wore.

The orphans at St Mary's were taught the basic chores and skills to go into the service at the age of fourteen or so but sometimes people looked for younger girls to other jobs. This woman was probably looking for a younger girl for kitchen work or something, Dawn concluded.

"These are all of my girls," Miss Ivy told the other lady. The lady nodded thoughtfully.

"Have they all been trained?" the lady asked.

"Most, Miss," Miss Ivy replied. The lady looked up the long line of girls before she turned to Miss Ivy.

"I would prefer a girl who has had at least five years of lessons here, Miss Ivy," the lady said.

"If you have been here and had lessons for more than five years, step forward," Miss Ivy ordered. Dawn and Leona stepped forwards quickly, as did two other girls: Zoey and another. "The rest of you may go and have breakfast."

Quietly and quickly, the other girls left the room leaving the four girls alone with the two women.

"This is Miss Delia," Miss Ivy introduced the lady, "She is looking for someone to work for her. All my girls are very hard working. They are obedient and quiet. I think which ever you would choose would do you well."

Miss Delia looked at the four girls, looking slightly clueless over the choice. Miss Ivy usually sold them as things rather than people. They were on display for whoever was wanting to take them on. Miss Delia looked slightly off put as she looked the girls up and down. She didn't really understand what she was supposed to be looking for. Was she supposed to base her choice on how the girl looked?

"Are you hardworking?" Miss Delia asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the four girls replied.

"Are you willing to work hard?" Miss Delia asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the girls chorused. Miss Delia looked slightly anxious as she squinted at the girls.

"You," she said, pointing at Zoey, "Is that a smudge mark on your face?"

Zoey glanced at Dawn and Leona who nodded to tell her that she did have a smudge mark on her cheek.

"Yes, ma'am," Zoey said.

"How did you get it?" Miss Delia asked. Zoey hung her head slightly.

"I was cleaning the fireplace yesterday, ma'am," Zoey replied honestly. Miss Delia turned her eyes onto Leona next.

"You look slightly dim witted," Miss Delia said, "Tell me, what is six times four?"

"Er…" Leona said, glowing pink in the cheeks. Miss Delia nodded like this answered her question. She moved onto the other girl, Marina, before she looked at Dawn.

"Why do you want to work for me?" Miss Delia asked Marina.

"Because, ma'am, I have to work," Marina replied, "Otherwise I would starve."

"And you?" Miss Delia asked Dawn.

"I would like to work, ma'am," Dawn replied, "So that I can be productive and find a living for myself, ma'am."

"Can you scrub floors and clear fires?" Miss Delia asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Dawn replied.

"Dust and wash?" Miss Delia asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Dawn said again. Miss Delia nodded.

"What is your name, dear?" she asked.

"Dawn, ma'am," Dawn replied.

"I will hire Dawn, Miss Ivy," Miss Delia told Miss Ivy, "I think she will do very well in the house."

"Of course," Miss Ivy said, "Shall I send her to you in a day or two?"

"Now," Miss Delia said, "I will take her with me now, if you do not mind. We need a new maid instantly, Miss Ivy."

"Of course," Miss Ivy said, "Come Dawn."

"Yes, Miss," Dawn said quickly. She glanced at Leona and offered her best friend as smile. While the two women turned to leave the room Dawn mouthed 'I'll come back and visit you' to Leona. Leona nodded quickly and waved as Dawn hurried after Miss Ivy and Delia.

She had done it. She had finally escaped her dreaded prison. She held back a gleeful squirm and continued to follow her new boss.

Miss Delia led Dawn out of the orphanage an hour later. Dawn walked behind Miss Delia with her eyes cast down, trying to look like she respected the woman. However, Miss Delia seemed to be a little worried that Dawn was walking behind her and slowed her pace slightly then grew annoyed when Dawn fell back even more.

"Walk with me child," Miss Delia snapped at her, although her voice remained soft. Dawn nodded and caught up with Miss Delia, staying by her side. "You do know how to do most household chores, right?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Dawn said, "But I am not very good at cooking."

"That's fine, dear," Miss Delia waved off, "We have a wonderful cook at the house for that sort of stuff."

"What sort of jobs will I get to do, Ma'am?" Dawn asked, glancing at Miss Delia. The woman smiled brightly.

"You will be the second maid, dear," Delia explained, "You shall light fires and dust and clean the silverware, among other things."

"How many servants do you have, Ma'am?" Dawn asked.

"There is a cook, a scullery maid, a stable boy and one normal maid already," Delia replied, "I am the head of the household so if you need anything, dear, please come to me."

"Yes, Ma'am," Dawn replied. Dawn walked through the streets she had never walked before. They looked respectful with shops of all kinds littering them. The houses were small, shabby and slightly crowded by people. Dawn glanced at them carefully. Miss Delia wouldn't work here would she? These houses didn't look big enough for there to be two maids, one cook, a scullery maid and a stable boy to work there.

"Come here, dear," Miss Delia said walking towards a small black carriage waiting by the path. Dawn walked briskly towards Miss Delia. The carriage driver opened the door for Miss Delia and bowed his head as she climbed into the carriage. Dawn paused as she looked into the door of the carriage. Miss Delia raised an eyebrow at Dawn in a confused manner. "Haven't you ever ridden in a carriage, dear?"

"No, Ma'am," Dawn said. Slowly she climbed the two metal steps into the carriage and sat opposite Miss Delia. The driver closed the door as soon as she was sat down. Dawn looked round the carriage with her mouth only slightly open. The inside was lined with rich looking fabric. The seats were cushioned and soft. There were plum coloured curtains drawn back in the windows. Miss Delia was checking something in the small clutch bag she carried with her. Dawn hadn't even noticed it until now but Miss Delia was rummaging through it. Eventually she brought out a small compact mirror and looked over her face. Dawn watched her. Miss Delia had a very ladylike air about her. She couldn't believe that Miss Delia was only the head of the household. If she was a servant then what would the master be like?

"Please, Ma'am," Dawn asked timidly, "But who is my employer?"

"Hmm?" Miss Delia hummed distractedly. The brunette blinked a few times before she let out a nervous laugh, "Oh yes, how foolish of me to forget. Your employer's name is Mr Stone."

"Is he a kind master?" Dawn asked.

"Very much so," Miss Delia replied, "Although he may seem a little odd to you, dear."

Dawn glanced out of the window to see that they were moving. Dawn smiled widely as she saw the street move gently in front of her. Miss Delia was smiling at Dawn.

"Do not worry, dear," Miss Delia told Dawn, "You will be well fed and looked after."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Dawn said.

The carriage stopped ten minutes later outside a large house. Dawn peered out of the window at the house. It was huge with large curved windows and at least three floors, maybe more! The brick work was beautiful with carvings in the window ledges and some ivy running up one wall. Dawn was suddenly aware that her mouth was slightly open.

"It's beautiful," Dawn told Miss Delia. Miss Delia smiled at Dawn.

"It takes a lot of hard work to make the house that pretty, Dawn," Miss Delia warned, "So be ready to do hard work."

"Yes, Miss," Dawn nodded.

"Now let's go," Miss Delia said. The carriage door was opened by the driver. Miss Delia led Dawn out of the carriage and towards the house. Dawn couldn't help but marvel at the place. It was so pretty. She followed Miss Delia as fast as she could without seeming over excited. She wanted to appear well mannered, not some sort of excited dim-wit. Just as the two approached the front door, it opened.

A man with silver hair was stood in the doorway, talking to someone. His hair was messed up, like it wouldn't do as it was told. He wore a grey suit with two red zig-zags down the front of the jacket. Over the top of his suit he wore a darker grey cloak.

"And remember, don't over do it otherwise Drew will be purple all week," the man was telling someone inside.

"Yes, sir," came a reply. The grey haired man glanced at Miss Delia.

"Good afternoon, Miss Delia," he said, "I'll be at the palace all afternoon but please expect me back for dinner."

"Of course, sir," Miss Delia replied with a polite bob. Dawn copied Miss Delia quickly as the man rushed towards the carriage. The door remained open as if someone was waiting for them. Miss Delia hurried into the house. Dawn stepped behind the older woman, glancing around at the lush colour of the walls. A boy was stood holding the door open, nose buried in a book. Dawn glanced at him, pausing slightly to get a better look at him. He was well dressed in a white shirt, purple waistcoat and black trousers. He looked like he had purple hair which seemed rather long. Dawn found herself wondering what he looked like. The boy glanced over his book at her, eying her carefully. He had deep onyx eyes, there was a scowl etched into his features. Dawn froze as he stared at her.

"Move then so I can shut the door," he told her. Dawn jumped out of the way. The boy rolled his eyes before he pushed the door shut. He then turned and went up the nearby staircase. Miss Delia had seemingly disappeared in the time it took Dawn to get into the house. She looked around wildly before Miss Delia suddenly appeared out of one of the rooms, holding a handful of envelopes.

"It never ends," she was muttering to herself. She looked at Dawn. "This way, dear."

"Ma'am," Dawn said, as the two walked down the hallway, "Who was that boy? Is he a steward?"

"No, dear," Miss Delia said, "He's the master's apprentice."

"So the man leaving was the master?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, that was Mr Stone," Miss Delia replied. Miss Delia opened a large oak door and led Dawn into the room beyond. Dawn instantly knew it was the kitchen. It was a long room. It was probably half the size of the dorm at the orphanage. There were two large stoves at either end of the room with a long kitchen sink. A table was in the middle of the room with plenty of chairs to sit a lot of workers. There were sideboards running all around the room with cupboards both above and below them. Dawn gasped at the sheer size of the place. A man was stood at one of the stoves, stirring a great big pot of something that smelt delicious.

"Brock," Miss Delia said, causing the man to turn round, "I've got the new maid. Where are Joy and Ursula?"

"Joy was just putting the breakfast plates away," Brock explained. He walked towards Miss Delia and Dawn but looking more at Dawn than Miss Delia. Brock was a tall man with tanned skin and dark hair. It looked like his eyes were closed but they can't have been if he was walking OK. He was wearing nice clothes too: a white shirt with black trousers underneath a white apron. He seemed to have some sort of protection on his arms that was brown and made out of thick wool. Dawn supposed it was to protect his sleeves from getting sprayed with food.

"This is Dawn," Miss Delia introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Dawn," Brock said. He looked at Delia. "She's a little young."

"She has had five years experience at that place," Miss Delia said, "She was the best one there despite being so young."

"Has the master left yet?" Brock asked, "He had a message from the palace an hour ago."

"I hope we didn't keep him," Miss Delia said, "I know he has the other carriage but he does prefer the small one."

The two servants had begun doing work as they chatted about the master's trip to the palace. Dawn stood awkwardly by the door, not knowing what to do. She waited patiently, scared that if she made some noise the two adults would be mad at her.

A door towards the other end of the room opened a pink haired maid walked into the room. She glanced at Dawn and scoffed.

"Is that it?" the maid asked, pointing at Dawn, "The new maid?"

"Yes, Ursula," Miss Delia replied, "Her name is Dawn."

"Dawn? What a horribly common name," Ursula snapped. She walked over to Dawn and looked her over. "She's an ugly little thing. Look at her. She's an orphan?"

"Yes," Miss Delia said.

"Scrawny little thing," Ursula said, "The master won't like her one bit."

"Ursula?" Miss Delia asked, "Would you mind fetching some clothes for her?"

"She's a little too small for Summer's clothes," Ursula replied but she walked back towards the door she had just come from and disappeared. Dawn let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"I think I should get her washed up," Miss Delia said to Brock, "Make sure she's clean."

"It's the only problem with orphanages," Brock agreed, "They're crawling with stuff. It's because they're so cramped. For what it's worth, I think it was a brilliant idea going there for a new maid."

"Thank you," Miss Delia said with a smile. She drifted over towards Dawn. "Come, dear, let me show you round the house."

"Yes, miss," Dawn said before she followed Miss Delia to the door Ursula had just gone through. Miss Delia opened the door for Dawn. Dawn brushed past Miss Delia and walked up the stairs. Miss Delia followed her and told her which way to go next. At the top of the stairs there was another door. Dawn opened it carefully and looked at her surroundings. The landing was richly coloured just like downstairs with elegant patterns on the walls and fancy ornaments darted around the place. Miss Delia led Dawn through the landing, telling her about the various rooms until they went up another staircase to another floor, then up another.

The last floor was plainer than the rest. It was painted in only one colour without any patterns on the walls. Miss Delia led Dawn to a room and pushed her into it. It was a bathroom. There was a toilet, basin and a bath, all brilliantly white. Miss Delia walked over to the bath and turned a handle, causing water to cascade from a small tube like thing at one end of the bath.

"Turn the tap when it is half full," Miss Delia told Dawn. Miss Delia pulled out a bar of soap from the small wooden cabinet above the bath and handed it to Dawn. "I'll find you a towel and some clothes."

"Thank you, ma'am," Dawn said with a bow. Miss Delia disappeared out of the room. Dawn glanced around oddly for a few seconds before she decided to get on with it and take her bath.

**OK, was that totally horrible like I thought it was? Erg, I will have to get writing this again, I think. **

**Please review me with your thoughts!**

**RSx**


	2. Music Player

**Wow, I was blown away by how many people reviewed this ^_^ Thank you so much!**

**Thanks to: Iloveikari, Midnight Singer, splitheart1120, AwesomeWolfLover, Dani4Short, pokemonpuppy23, xRissychanx, Kitsune300, Starfire1407, seanygirl1296, DemigodWitch96 and Sjir-sama for reviewing!**

**Chapter Two – Music Player**

The next few days went by in a blissful daze for Dawn. She had her own room in the attic. It was small and dark but it was her room. It was her space with her bed and her wardrobe. It was hers. Unfortunately the room next door was Ursula's which meant that the mean maid would often come into Dawn's room and drag her out of bed or throw water on her to wake her up.

Apart from having her own room, Dawn found that life in the house was a whole lot better than life in the orphanage. There was nice food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, hand made by Brock the cook. Dawn liked Brock. He was a kind man who just loved to cook. He would let people test his cooking before sending it to the family. He liked everything to be precise.

The cleaning jobs weren't so bad either. Ash, the stable boy, had shown Dawn the ropes in her first days. Ash had come from another orphanage in the city so Dawn felt a little familiar with him. They had a common talking point which was good for the first day or so. Ash taught Dawn how to clean the silverware and where to find all the cleaning supplies she needed. She was thankful at being tutored in such a way but soon found that Ash was a little tiresome after a while.

The two were often put together to do jobs when Ash wasn't needed in the stables. Ash would often talk when he was doing his chores, whether or not if Dawn was listening. Dawn was glad for the conversation sometimes but all Ash could talk about was how he would find his parents one day. Dawn couldn't agree with his enthusiasm.

On Dawn's third day she had unexpectedly bumped into the master's daughter, Sapphire-May. Sapphire-May, usually known by her first name only, was a spoilt little girl who was slightly porky due to the fact she loved to eat sweet things, mostly chocolate. Dawn was cleaning the young girl's fancy room when Miss Sapphire had come in and taken it upon herself to hit Dawn with a thin ruler every ten seconds or so. Dawn did well to control her temper but she wanted to yell at the girl so much it was unbelievable. By the time Dawn left the room she was shaking with anger and had to go stand outside for ten minutes to calm herself down.

One of Dawn's chores was to answer the master's bell. After the whole incident with Sapphire, Dawn had to take the master a cup of tea and a saucer of milk in the library. Dawn was surprised when she entered the library to find that it wasn't the master calling but the master's apprentice. The purple haired boy was reading a large leather bound book quietly. He was studying very hard with a collection of open books around him. Papers were thrown every where, even on the spot Dawn was stood. Dancing off the papers, Dawn looked into the bright green eyes of the Master's cat.

Now, the cat was by far the strangest creature Dawn had ever seen. It was a slim feline with neat ears and far too large eyes for its face. Its coat was silvery grey in colour apart from an odd fringe which was green and flicked to one side of the cat's face. The cat stared at Dawn as she looked at it before realising she had its milk on her tray and that she should put it down for him.

As Dawn walked into the library, towards a small stool where she could balance the tray while she put the saucer of milk onto the floor, she noticed Ursula dusting one of the big bookshelves. Ursula glared at Dawn but Dawn tried her best to ignore it. Dawn gently put the tray down on a large stool that sat in the centre of the room, trying to be as quiet as possible so that the apprentice wasn't disturbed. She placed the milk on the floor out of harms way and then put the tea cup on the table beside the apprentice's chair. He glanced up. For a split second his onyx eyes peered into her sapphire ones. Dawn gulped unconsciously as she felt a jolt rush through her entire body.

"Thank you," the apprentice muttered before he picked it up and took a sip. Dawn bobbed and left the library as fast as she could without seeming too rude. Her heart was racing. It felt like she had ran a marathon but she knew she hadn't. She composed herself and went downstairs.

Miss Delia was waiting for her in the kitchen. The head of the household seemed a little nervous about something.

"This is terrible," Miss Delia was telling Brock and Miss Joy, the scullery maid, "The master has company tonight and I have no idea how I'm going to prepare for it."

"What needs to be done?" Joy asked. Her voice was always remarkably calm and soothing. Joy was a very pretty lady with dark pink hair and blue eyes. She wore a grey dress with a white full length apron over the top of it. Dawn really liked Joy because of her kindness. When she spoke, Dawn couldn't help but smile.

"I need the silverware to be polished, the chandeliers to be cleaned, the dinning room to be blitzed and everything else that we usually do for guests," Miss Delia replied. She seemed to think for a few seconds until she turned to Joy. "I need everyone's help. Joy, get Ursula and start on the dinning room."

"Yes, Miss Delia," Joy said with a curtsey. The scullery maid rushed up the servant's stairs. Miss Delia turned to Dawn.

"Dawn, I need the parlour chandelier to be dusted," Miss Delia told her, "Get Ash and do that for me."

"Yes, ma'am," Dawn replied. She dashed off towards the stables to collect Ash and a ladder. Ash seemed to know what was what going on so he took charge. He brought the ladder into the parlour and propped it up ready for Dawn.

"Is that safe?" Dawn asked Ash as she shuffled into the parlour. Ash nodded quickly.

"If someone holds the ladders then it should be fine," Ash told her, "So hurry up, we haven't got all day."

"Aren't you going to do it?" Dawn asked, "I mean it is a little tall for me."

"It's OK," Ash told her, "I'll hold the ladders for you."

Dawn paused for a few seconds. She looked up at the large chandelier and then at the ladder. The ladder was made out of wood and looked quite old. She didn't trust it one bit.

"Fine," Dawn snapped, "If I fall and die, I shall blame you."

Armed with the duster, Dawn slowly began to climb the ladder so that she could clean the damned chandelier. She stood awkwardly on the ladder for a few seconds, getting her balance, until she began cleaning it. It was ever so dusty since it must have been cleaned only every so often. Dawn bet she was the only one stupid enough to climb up so high to clean it. Ash had definitely saw her coming, hadn't he? Only an idiot would risk breaking their neck to clean something like this.

"That's it," she heard him tell her.

"I know what I'm doing," Dawn mumbled under her breath.

The door creaked open but neither child seemed to notice. The grey coloured cat with a mop of green hair on its head walked unnoticed into the room. It looked around this way and that before walking up to Ash, curious as to what was going on. It looked up at Dawn and hissed. From this view, Ash could see Dawn's unmentionables. The cat, thinking it had a sense of duty to protect the poor girl from unknowingly flashing her delicates at the boy, stuck his claws into the boy's ankle.

Ash yelled loudly and jumped a mile. However the force of the jump knocked the ladders over. Dawn screamed as she fell off the ladder and landed oddly on her feet, twisting her ankle before she fell to the floor. She gasped as pain consumed her left ankle, rolling onto her bottom so she could clasp her hurting body part. Then she looked across at Ash who seemed to be wrestling the cat on the floor.

"Stupid cat," Ash snapped at the now hissing cat. Dawn couldn't help but sniff as tears began to pour down her cheeks. Slowly the cat and Ash turned to look at her, their eyes widening in horror as they saw her sat on the floor clutching her ankle in pain. Ash shot to his feet.

"I'll get help," he said quickly and ran out of the room, although Dawn was convinced that he was going to get someone. The cat trotted up to Dawn in an attempt to apologise, his head hung low and his ears to the side.

"Go away, cat," Dawn sniffed, "Go drink milk or something."

There were footsteps into the room. Dawn glanced up to see the purple haired apprentice walk into the room with a haughty smirk on his face.

"Drew," he said but then stopped as he saw the cat beside the crying Dawn. The smirk was gone instantly and the boy rushed forwards to see what was wrong. He glanced round the room: at the ladder, the chandelier, the cat and finally Dawn's ankle. It wasn't hard to work out what had happened here.

"Did you fall off?" he asked, walking briskly towards her. Dawn nodded. "That was stupid."

"I had someone holding it but the cat spooked him," Dawn explained, "And then the ladder tipped over."

"The cat, huh?" the boy asked, eying the cat wearily. The boy crouched down beside Dawn and checked her ankle. "It's just a sprain."

"No!" Dawn yelled, "It can't be! I started working here four days ago. If I get hurt they'll send me back!"

The boy looked bored at her exclamation. He put his hands gently on her ankle and closed his eyes. Dawn felt a strange tingling sensation in her ankle before the pain subsided completely. The boy stood up and beckoned for her to do the same. She slowly got to her feet and wobbled. Her foot had gone slightly numb.

"It will be numb for a few seconds," the boy told her, "But it's all better now."

"How did you do that?" Dawn asked in amazement as her ankle came back to life.

"Magic," the boy said. There was a hissing sound. Suddenly the cat was floating in mid air by the boy's side. "Thanks for finding the cat for me. He needs to help me with some work."

The cat stared at Dawn as if it was calling out for her to help him. Dawn just giggled nervously.

"Oh, Master Paul," Miss Delia said as she hurried into the room, "I heard Dawn had fell."

"She's fine," the boy, Paul, said, "The cat's fault."

"Thank you," Dawn said with a quick bob. Paul glanced at her before he walked out of the room, the cat floating behind him. Dawn looked at Miss Delia.

"Are you OK?" Miss Delia asked, "Ash said you'd fallen from the ladder."

"I'm fine, Miss Delia," Dawn replied, "Where's Ash?"

"In the kitchen," Miss Delia said with a bitter tone in her voice, "Brock is giving him a beating for making you climb that ladder. Getting a girl to climb a ladder? Never. A lady should never show off her under things. Be warned next time, Dawn. Never trust Ash."

"Yes, Miss," Dawn promised with a nod.

The two walked into the kitchen where Ash was sat awkwardly on a chair with a red face. Dawn bit her lip as she saw him. Brock was back at the stove, stirring something in a large black pot.

"Are you hurt at all, dear?" Miss Delia asked Dawn. Dawn glanced at her ankle but shook her head.

"I'm fine, Miss," she replied, "But, Miss, I have a question."

"What is it, Dawn?" Miss Delia asked as she walked over to the stove to check on Brock's cooking.

"Well, my ankle really hurt when I fell off the ladder but the master's apprentice came and helped me and it doesn't hurt anymore," Dawn said, "And when I asked him he said it was magic."

"Oh heavens," Miss Delia exclaimed. Brock turned round, chuckling loudly at Miss Delia.

"I suppose you didn't tell her," Brock said calmly. Miss Delia shook her head.

"Tell me what?" Dawn asked. She didn't like being left out of the loop even if she was new here. She wanted to be included in whatever it was the two servants were talking about.

"Mr Stone is the King's Head Sorcerer," Miss Delia explained rather quickly. Dawn blinked a few times, not quite understanding this totally. She glanced at Brock to see if it was a joke of some kind. His expression told her instantly that this was no joke. He nodded in a supporting sort of way which made Dawn look back at Miss Delia. "He does a lot of work for his Majesty, including making spells for the weather and other things to help with the ruling of a country."

"So Mr Stone knows how to do magic?" Dawn asked. Miss Delia nodded. Dawn paused for a minute to digest this bit of information. Finally Dawn nodded and smiled. "That's amazing, Miss Delia. Is the house magical too?"

"Oh, heavens no," Miss Delia cried, "If it were magic then we'd have no jobs would we?"

"No, miss," Dawn said.

"Right, then," Miss Delia said, changing the subject quickly, "I need you to go polish the parlour tables. OK, Dawn?"

"Yes, miss," Dawn replied with a bob. She rushed over to the cupboard to get the polish and the rag they used to clean with. Dawn turned and calmly walked out of the kitchen, not wanting to run into the apprentice or the lady of the house by accident. Miss Delia smiled after Dawn.

"She's such a sweet girl," Brock said to Miss Delia, "Too sweet to live the life of a kitchen girl."

"Yes," Miss Delia agreed with a sigh.

"Master Paul healed her ankle?" Brock said to himself, "That is strange. Usually Master Paul ignores any and all servants."

"I know," Miss Delia said, "But he's not so cold hearted to let someone be in pain if he sees them."

"I suppose not," Brock agreed. He glanced at the chair Ash was sat on. The boy had been sat silently for since Miss Delia entered the kitchen, probably hoping that she wouldn't see him. He wasn't so lucky. As Miss Delia walked past him, she whacked him over the head.

"Stupid boy," she told him.

Dawn was putting fresh logs in the fireplace of the library later that day. She leant back on her knees, letting out a sigh. It had been a long day. Miss Delia wasn't kidding when she had said there was a lot of stuff to do before Mr Stone's guest arrived. Running the back of her hand across her forehead, Dawn looked at her handy work. She was pleased with herself. The fireplace looked wonderful. Slowly Dawn got to her feet and stretched. Being hunched over like that for an hour was bad for her back. All she needed was a good stretch and then she could get on with her work.

Dawn paused as she heard some music coming from the next door room. It sounded quite loud, terrifying but brilliant at all the same time. Curious to what the music was, Dawn crept from the room, oddly in time with a quiet section. It sounded as though someone was behind her even though she knew it was just the music.

She found the source of the music coming from the school room. Dawn twisted the handle and peeked in just as the music exploded once again. Inside she could see people dancing on the floor, but the people weren't exactly real. They were miniature, wearing strange clothes with flames rising and writhing between them. Each couple were dancing the same dance, paying no attention to the flames. The flames erupted out as the dancers fell into a crouched bow on their knees. Dawn stepped into the room to get a better look at the show. As the dancers began to do strange movements to the sound of short bursts of music until the last note faded and the dancers fell to the side as if they were dead.

"Did you enjoy that?"

Dawn jumped out of her skin almost as she heard the master's apprentice talk to her. He was stood with his sleeves rolled up, his jacket on the back of one of the chairs.

"Sorry," Dawn said with a bob, "I just wondered where the music was coming from."

"Mars, the Bringer of War," Paul read out. He was stood next to a phonograph which was now playing a soft melody. "Holst, he's a new composer but not too bad."

"He sounded scary," Dawn mumbled.

"Sapphire likes the crescendos in the Mars song," Paul stated, "She's a strange child."

"The dancers looked brilliant, sir," Dawn said with another bob, "Even though I don't understand music, I thought it looked very nice, sir."

Paul looked at her in surprise for a few seconds before he smirked and closed his eyes.

"Of course you wouldn't know very much about music," Paul told her, "You're a maid."

Dawn frowned at this but found that she couldn't argue with him. It was true that she was a servant without very high education but he didn't have to point it out so bluntly. It was like he was poking fun at her. On second thoughts, she knew he was poking fun at her.

"Sorry for disturbing you," Dawn said finally before she left the room, closing the door behind her. Paul opened his eyes as he heard the door click as it was closed. He let out a short sigh. Why was that girl everywhere? Sure she was a maid but that didn't mean she had to appear everywhere.

The door opened once again. This time it was Mr Stone. He looked round the room, his eyes settling on Paul after a few seconds.

"There you are, Paul," Mr Stone said. He smiled at his apprentice. "I was wondering if you knew where the cat was."

"It is four o'clock, sir," Paul replied, turning to the phonograph. He lifted the needle off the large black vinyl disk. The music instantly stopped but the disc continued to go round. "He's probably in the kitchen begging for milk."

"Good," Mr Stone said, "Can I ask you to do something for me, Paul? My guest tonight doesn't like cats."

Paul's eyes darted towards his teacher, a glimpse of hope showing through his neutral facade. Was his teacher going to ask him to do what he thought he was?

"Could you please put Drew in his cage for the night?" Mr Stone asked. Paul paused then nodded. Maybe not what he was hoping for, after all Drew was a pain to get into his cage. Paul was rather hoping that Mr Stone would tell him to change Drew into a dog or something, they had been covering transfiguration of animals recently in his studies. "Splendid. Cheerio. Make sure you're down for tea by seven."

"Yes…" Paul didn't bother to end his sentence because the door was slammed the moment Mr Stone stopped speaking. Paul frowned slightly. What had gotten into his teacher recently? Leaving for long periods of time, not teaching Paul for weeks and not spending enough time with Sapphire. This was odd. Now Mr Stone was asking Paul to put the cat, his beloved feline, into a metal cage for the evening. Something was definitely up. Drew didn't deserve it and that was saying something. Never-the-less, Paul walked calmly down to the kitchens to retrieve the cat.

**Well that's chapter two ^_^ Hope it wasn't too bad. **

**Please review!**

**RSx**


	3. The Cat in the Basket

**Well, at least I'm on time for this update!**

**Thanks to splitheart1120, Midnight Singer, AwesomeWolfLover, pokemonpuppy23, Dani4Short, MajorlyObssessedIkarishipper, gamer chix, LovelyLily13, Sjir-sama, seanygirl296 and BitterGlitter for reviewing the last chapter ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter Three: The Cat in the Basket**

Dawn peered out of the kitchen to see Paul levitating the cat in mid air. The cat was hissing like crazy while Paul was trying to reason with it. Curious to why the cat and apprentice were fighting, Dawn got a little closer to the purple haired boy.

"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?" Dawn asked. Paul glanced at her, narrowing his eyes. Dawn would've been put off if it wasn't for the cat hissing beside Paul. Her eyes travelled onto the cat. His fur was stood on end. His claws were out. Even the weird green fringe seemed to be stuck out.

"Mr Stone wants the cat to be locked up," Paul replied finally. He let out a sigh. "As much as I love to annoy the cat, I think this is a little harsh."

"I can look after him if you need me to," Dawn said.

"If you can keep an eye on him that would be great," Paul said with a nod, "I need to put him in his cage first."

Paul walked into the kitchen, not minding the mess or the servants that dwelled in the hot room. Brock and Joy paused from what they were doing to look at Paul, bobbing where they stood in respect to the boy. They didn't seem to react to the floating cat beside him even if the four legged feline was hissing and spitting continuously. Dawn followed behind the cat, sparing Brock and Joy a smile before Paul disappeared up the servants' stairs. Dawn didn't bother to ask Paul if he could use these stairs because she soon realised why Paul was going this way. The cat caught the wall with its claws, tearing the wallpaper slightly. Miss Delia wouldn't have liked that if it had been on the main stairs.

Paul walked along the first floor hallway, paying no attention to the cat. He paused outside the study.

"The cage is on the top shelf in there," Paul told Dawn. Dawn nodded. She paused as she remembered what had happened the last time someone told her to climb up a high place. She looked quickly at Paul, hoping he would change his mind about this. "I'll stay here until you come down."

"Yes, sir," Dawn said, bobbing. She was thankful for him staying outside the door. She quickly marched into the room. The cage was perched on the top shelf like Paul had said. All Dawn needed to do was stand on the desk and carefully grab it.

Using the chair as a step, Dawn climbed onto the desk without much trouble. However, she found that she was too short to reach the cage. Sighing, Dawn looked around for something to stand on. She saw a thick encyclopaedia sitting on the desk not too far away. Perfect, that would give her enough height. She dragged the book to the end of the desk then stepped on it. She managed to reach the cage with ease but in the process she tumbled off the desk and landed in the desk chair, clutching the cage close to her stomach.

"You had to fall," Paul muttered as he walked in the room, "You know how hard it is to levitate the cat and make sure you don't kill yourself?"

"Sorry," Dawn said as she sat up in the chair. She looked around, slightly dazed at the fact she didn't fall on the floor. Slowly so climbed out of the chair and put the cage on the floor. The cat began to hiss like crazy the moment the cage was opened. Unfortunately for Paul, the cat was fidgeting so much that Paul couldn't simply levitate him into the cage. Paul had to grab the cat by the scruff of the neck instead.

"Calm down, Drew," Paul snapped as the cat clawed at his hand. The cat stopped suddenly. Paul reached forwards to open the door of the cage wide enough for Drew. The cat waited then pounced. Paul growled as the cat sunk its teeth into his right hand, restraining himself from jumping up and shouting at the creature. Dawn's eyes widened as she saw blood pour instantly from the wound. Paul threw the cat into the cage unceremoniously, slamming the door shut and locking it. While Drew tried to fight his way out of the cage, Paul sank back onto the floor, cradling his bleeding hand. He shot Drew a glare of disdain.

"Stupid cat," he snapped at Drew, "Why did you bite me? It's not my fault you know."

"Here," Dawn said as she crawled over to Paul. She handed him a white handkerchief. He took it and dabbed his hand with it. Dawn clicked her tongue, snatching the white cotton square from Paul. He flinched as she tied it tightly round the wound. "I'll go and see if Miss Delia has any medical supplies. We should wash it before it gets infected."

"So now you're a doctor?" Paul asked.

"I was the ward nurse for three years at the orphanage you know," Dawn snapped in reply, "I know a lot about cuts and sickness."

Paul blinked once more as the blunette stood up and stormed past him. Wow, there would be very few people to snap at him like that. The cat seemed to stop hissing to look confused at Paul.

"Mmmeeow," the cat said.

"I have no idea, Drew," Paul replied, "But yeah, she just stood up to me."

"Meow, mmmmeow," Drew said, "Mao, mao, meowww."

"Shut it, cat," Paul snapped, "Look what you did to my hand you stupid fur-ball."

Dawn returned to the room, glancing between the cat and the apprentice who were seemingly arguing again. The strange thing was that the two seemed to be having a conversation. Drew would meow to Paul and Paul would reply to Drew.

"Here," Dawn said, kneeling down beside Paul. She undid the handkerchief slowly. She had brought with her a bowl of warm water, a cloth with a tube of cream and a bandage. Paul eyed the bandage as she dabbed his hand clean of blood with the cloth. She rinsed it every other dab in the bowl of water. This girl did know how to look after people. "I used to do this a lot in the orphanage."

"Really," Paul stated. Why was she talking to him? Surely she would want to concentrate one what she was doing than having a conversation with him.

"Yeah," Dawn replied, "We had an epidemic of measles once. It was horrible but I had already had it when I was younger so I was fine. I had to look after everyone in my ward. There were about twenty girls I had to watch over with measles. And they all survived."

"Well done," Paul said boredly, "You save other people yet almost kill yourself every other day?"

"Please remember, sir," Dawn said, "That I am tending to your wound and am armed with anti-septic cream."

Dawn swore she heard the cat snigger but when she glanced over to look at the feline creature, she found he was curled up and asleep. Dawn grabbed the tube of anti-septic cream and unscrewed the lid. She squeezed a small amount onto her finger then began to rub it into Paul's wound. Paul cringed as the cream stung wildly.

"Cut it out," Paul snapped.

"It'll feel better soon," Dawn replied calmly.

"I thought you were supposed to warn that it would sting before you put it on, Nurse Troublesome," Paul said.

"You're the scholar, you should have foreseen that coming, Sir Rudeness," Dawn replied. She glanced up at the apprentice. He smirked at her.

"Touché," he said. Dawn bandaged up his hand. He watched her curiously. She was very nurse like. She had a certain softness about her that reminded him of his mother's nurse a long time ago. He was sure that if Dawn had been from a family then she would've made a great nurse in a hospital. She was a clumsy maid but a good nurse.

"There," Dawn said proudly as she tied the bandage in a knot. She leant back to study her handy work. Paul inspected it too. It seemed good enough for him. He stood up slowly. "I'll look after the master's cat."

"Take him into the kitchen," Paul told her, "Then you can keep a proper eye on him."

"Yes, sir," Dawn said. She got to her feet and bobbed graciously. Paul glanced round the room. His eyes settled on the large clock on one of the bookshelves.

"Great," Paul muttered. He turned on his heel and rushed out of the room. Dawn glanced at the clock too. It read ten to seven. Dawn yelped as she picked up the cage with the cat in and stumbled down to the kitchens.

"Where have you been?" Ursula snapped as Dawn stumbled into the kitchen. The cat hissed at her in reply making the pink haired maid jump backwards out of Dawn's way. Brock walked over to see what was going on.

"Oh, the cat has been caged," Brock said, "Stick him over on the table."

"Yes, Brock," Dawn said. She put the cage on the kitchen table like she was asked too. She smiled at the grey and green haired cat for a few seconds before Ursula called her over.

"Miss Delia wants you to be the maid in waiting tonight," Ursula said with distain, "That means you have to make sure you don't screw anything up."

"Yes, Ursula," Dawn mumbled.

"You have to make sure everyone is happy," Joy said from over by the sink, "Pour drinks and move plates to the trolley when they're finished with."

"Master Paul wanted me to watch the cat," Dawn said, quietly. If she was in the dinning room then that would mean that she wouldn't be able to watch over the cat like the apprentice had told her. Joy gave Dawn a reassuring smile.

"I'll look after the cat," Joy said, "I now how much he hates that cage."

"Change your apron," Ursula barked at Dawn, "It's covered in ink!"

"That's not ink," Dawn said, glancing down at the apron and realising that the white material was stained with blood. She glanced at Joy for a little support before she explained what had happened. "Master Paul had cut his hand and I helped him."

"Oh I see," Ursula said with an evil glint in her eye, "Playing doctor and nurses with the Master's Apprentice? Don't get too snugly with the apprentice, Dawnie. He'll chuck you out the moment he can."

The cat hissed in response to Ursula's remarks. Ursula jumped backwards once again. Joy passed Dawn a freshly cleaned apron and hurried her out of the room. Dawn hurried into the dinning room where Miss Delia was helping Mr Stone, Miss Sapphire and the guest into their seats. The guest was a young woman with dark green hair. She turned her red eyes onto Dawn as Dawn stepped into the room. The woman was wearing a blood red and violet dress. The top half of the dress looked rather like a high necked blouse while the skirt was darker at the bottom than the top. Dawn bobbed quickly at the door. She walked over to Miss Delia and began to help out.

"I thought your apprentice was supposed to be joining us, Steven," the lady was saying to Mr Stone. Dawn resisted the urge to glance at the woman as she spoke.

"He is," Mr Stone replied, "But the poor boy studies far too hard. He often forgets what time it is. I rarely eat with him."

Sapphire mumbled something from the other side of the table which sounded like: "You're never here."

Dawn turned to the young girl slightly as she picked up the large china teapot and went to pour the three people drinks while they were waiting for Paul to arrive. Dawn glanced over at the clock. He was three minutes late.

"Papa," Sapphire said, "Did you see the painting I did for you in your study?"

This went ignored as Mr Stone went into conversation about the dress the lady was wearing. Sapphire glared at the lady with a look of pure venom. Dawn shuffled over to the eight year old girl.

"Sugar, Miss Sapphire?" Dawn asked. Sapphire looked up at Dawn.

"Three please," Sapphire replied, offering Dawn a small but grateful smile. Dawn put three sugar lumps in Sapphire's cup and then poured her some tea. "Lots of milk please."

"Yes, Miss," Dawn said. Although Dawn knew Sapphire could be a horrible little girl, Dawn also felt sorry for her. Her father was blatantly ignoring her while seemingly drooling over his guest. Miss Delia seemed to be floating round the room too. Dawn paused as she poured some milk into Sapphire's cup. It felt like something was wrong.

"Sorry, I'm late," Paul's voice made Dawn jump. She glanced up as the apprentice strode over to the table and quickly sat down in the remaining empty chair. He settled himself and looked up at his teacher. Mr Stone was still talking to the lady.

"He's been like that since she got here," Sapphire told Paul. Paul glanced at Sapphire then at Dawn.

"Would you like some tea, sir?" Dawn asked. Paul nodded quickly then turned his attention onto his teacher once more. Sapphire sipped her tea loudly as she stared at her father. Dawn made her way to pour some tea for Paul.

"She's weird," Sapphire said to Paul. Paul glanced at Sapphire, not bothering to reply. Dawn poured milk into Paul's tea and stepped out of the way. A lot of the night would be spent stood by the back wall, waiting for someone to ask her for something. They did this at the orphanage too when an important person came to take tea with Miss Ivy. A few girls would be picked to do this sort of thing and Dawn had been made to do it quiet a few times in her time at the orphanage. Dawn knew exactly what she was doing.

"Oh, Paul," Mr Stone said suddenly, "You're twenty minutes late."

"Sorry, sir," Paul replied.

"Any excuse why? I told you to be here for seven sharp, not twenty minutes late," Mr Stone snapped. Dawn glanced at Paul as the purple haired teen sipped his tea.

"I had a bit of trouble putting Drew in his cage," Paul said calmly, "As you can see."

He showed his teacher his bandaged hand. Sapphire gaped at the bandage, her eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets.

"Drew hurt you?" Sapphire asked.

"He bit me," Paul replied.

"Then who bandaged your hand?" Sapphire asked.

"The blue haired maid," Paul said, nodding towards Dawn. Sapphire turned to Dawn.

"You're a nurse?" Sapphire asked, "Daddy, the new maid is a nurse!"

Mr Stone ignored that because the lady was talking to him. Sapphire pouted. Even Paul looked a little annoyed by his teacher's sudden ignorance. Dawn glanced at Mr Stone. He was smiling at the lady as though she was some sort of candy treat or something. Dawn shook her head to get the thought of the lady being like candy out of her mind. Why did she think that?

Paul glanced at Sapphire to find the young girl was now smiling at the woman with the same interest as her father. Paul looked round at Dawn.

"Do you need anything, sir?" Dawn asked.

"No, thank you," Paul replied. He folded his arms over his chest. "If this keeps up, I'm going back to the library."

"It's such a nice thing to see a Shinji at the table," the lady said suddenly. Paul turned to face her. "Tell me, what does it feel like to be royalty?"

"You're mistaken," Paul replied, "I'm not royalty."

"You're the closest thing we sorcerers have to royalty," the lady said.

"That is quite true, Sabrina," Mr Stone agreed.

"Yes, Miss Saffron, I never saw it like that," Sapphire said. Paul glanced at Mr Stone then at Sapphire.

"Miss Sabrina Saffron?" Paul asked, "Sorry, we weren't introduced when I arrived."

"No need to apologise, Mr Paul Shinji," Miss Saffron replied, "I know enough about you."

Paul stood up, pushing his seat back. He glanced at Sapphire and Mr Stone for a split second.

"Please excuse me," he said. He left the room. Dawn stood and watched him go. She let out a sigh. He wasn't coming back…

**Yup, there's one of the proper characters from the TV show – Sabrina. I don't usually write her but I thought it would be fun to throw her into the plot. **

**Before I sign off could you possibly help me a little? If you could fill in this questionnaire (http:/ www. surveymonkey. com/s/ZTZDQ3Z without the spaces) then next week I shall post two – yes two- chapters of this fic as a reward.**

**Thank you so much ^_^**

**Please review!**

**RSx**


	4. Creak in the Night

**Woohoo! Thanks everyone who did the survey! It was really useful, thanks! So here's the first of your double update, the second will be tomorrow.**

**Thanks to AwesomeWolfLover, splitheart1120, Majorly Obsessed Ikarishipper, Midnight Singer, pokemonpuppy23, Lost-poke romantic, Dani4Short and Sjir-sama for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot ^_^**

**Chapter Four: Creak in the Night**

Dawn gave a loud sigh as she lay in bed that night. After Paul left dinner, everything had just gone from bad to worse. Miss Saffron seemed to dominate the conversation like she was some sort of enchantress. All the way through waiting at the table, Dawn fought back numerous wants for candy. She couldn't understand it. It seemed that all her thoughts drifted onto candy even when she was thinking about something completely different.

"What a day," she mumbled. She turned over and shut her eyes, trying to get to sleep. She nodded off for a short while.

_She was walking down the side of a building with Paul and the cat close to her. The cat was ahead of the two teens with his tail waving slightly as he walked on. Paul was walking beside Dawn, a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders and fastened just under his chin with a silver pin. ._

"_You know if we find it, that will be the start of our problems," Paul told her, glancing down at her. Dawn nodded but at the same time noticed how different Paul looked. Even in the dim light of the alleyway she could see that his features were quite relaxed, if possible more handsome than before. Dawn glanced down at her body seeing that she was wearing a cloak over her black maid dress, although her cloak was held together by a thin piece of ribbon rather than a fancy pin like Paul's was._

"_But it's the only way," Dawn replied. Paul let out a long sigh admitting defeat in this matter. Dawn smiled to herself. In the darkness of the alley she couldn't see where she was walking. Suddenly she shrieked as she stumbled over something and fell straight into Paul._

That woke her up. Slowly, Dawn opened her eyes and rolled over. Stupid dreams, she thought, why would she be in an alley with Paul anyway? She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and snuggled into the pillow.

There was a creak. It seemed unnaturally long. Then there was another one, just as unnaturally long as the first. Dawn opened her eyes and slowly sat up in her little bed, waiting to see if there were any more creaks but only silence ensued. She thought it was weird because creaks usually came on their own, not with a partner. It was something she noticed while in the orphanage. Slowly, Dawn swung her legs over the bed and slipped her toes into her boots. They were cold, almost frozen. Then again, everything seemed cold as she pushed off her blankets and stood up.

She crept to the door and opened it to see who was there. There was only the dark, empty hallway leading to Ursula's room and to the stairs. Dawn thought about going back to bed, figuring that it was just a dream or a trick of her mind until she remembered the noise had woken her up. What if there was a burglar? Or a fire? She had to go and check it out.

She tiptoed to the second floor, checking the doors as she walked past them. There didn't seem to be any noise anywhere, apart from the occasional snore from Brock's room. It must have come from one of the lower floors then.

Dawn took the stairs to the first floor and tiptoed around. There was a light on in the library. Dawn paused at the door to see if there was any noise coming from inside. She heard Paul muttering to himself and the cat meowing back to him. Dawn rolled her eyes. Stupid Sir Rudeness waking her up. What was he up to anyway? Dawn walked back to the stairs when she heard another creak. She stopped dead. She hadn't caused the creak. It had come from somewhere else down the hallway… right from Miss Sapphire's room.

Dawn walked slowly to the door and pressed her ear to the wood. Something strange was coming from the room. It was like there was a fizz in the air and Dawn could feel vibrations through the wood. What was going on in there? Dawn put her hand on the door handle and gently walked inside to check up on the girl. She peered round the door, her eyes widening instantly.

Miss Sapphire wasn't asleep in her bed. No, she was floating above the mattress, it was like she was suspended in mid air. Something was stood next to her, something wearing a dark cape and purple gloves. They were too concerned with levitating Miss Sapphire to notice Dawn by the door so Dawn remained quiet, watching what the intruder was doing before she raised an alarm. Slowly a misty blue light came from Miss Sapphire's body and drifted into the person standing beside her. Miss Sapphire groaned slightly as if she was in pain then lapsed into silence. Her body trembled from the cold and possibly from pain. Without warning, Sapphire let out a yell. Dawn pushed the door open, forgetting that she was just a maid.

"Stop it," Dawn told the man, "You're hurting her."

The man glanced towards her. The magic keeping Sapphire in the air stopped and she flopped onto the bed looking a little pale. Dawn glanced at her worriedly.

"Well, well," the man said with a cruel sounding voice, "What do we have here? A servant girl?"

He waved a hand in front of Dawn. She walked back against the wall as he came closer to her.

"I came here for one magical brat and I end up with two," he said, "Must be my lucky day."

"No, I'm not magic," Dawn protested. She felt herself leave the floor. She yelped and tried to struggle. She kicked the door, making it slam shut. She looked around, scared out of her life. "Help me!"

"I cast a silence spell round this room," the man explained, "No one will be able to hear you."

As he said this Paul opened the door looking quite annoyed, Drew the cat by his feet, equally as annoyed.

"Sapphire-" he stopped when he saw Dawn floating in mid air and the man in the cloak. His expression lightened only slightly before he ducked and picked up the cat. "Drew."

The cat gave a strangled cry as it flew across and landed on the cloaked man. The man staggered back as the grey cat sunk his claws in and began hissing like mad. Dawn fell to the ground. She was half caught by Paul before they both rushed over to the bed to check on Sapphire. The girl was unharmed but pale looking, her breathing was shallow.

"What did he do to her?" Paul asked Dawn looking into her wide, fear filled eyes. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to explain.

"There was a weird blue mist," Dawn replied but she only got that far when they heard a wild hissing noise. Paul glanced over his shoulder as the cat landed on the bed and scurried out of Paul's reach. Drew made for the door and disappeared into the hall as fast as his four paws could take him.

"Coward!" Paul yelled at the cat, frowning at the open door. His eyes then turned back onto the cloaked man.

"Nice try," the man snapped, "But you'll have to do better than that, kid."

The man raised his hand at Paul but Paul was quicker. The man was shot into the wall by a burst of purple light. Paul climbed off the bed and walked towards the man.

"What did you do to Sapphire?" Paul barked. Dawn brushed Sapphire's hair from her head and cradled the girl gently in a sort of protective manner. The man gave a cold chuckle. His laugh was dark and empty. It made Dawn shiver.

"I'll take your magic too," the man told Paul. Paul looked at the man oddly before he started to float up into the air. Dawn started forwards, reaching her hand out to stop the man from hurting Paul but seeing as she was sat on the bed, there was very little she could do.

"Stop!" she yelled. Something flew from her hand, pushing the man backwards. He staggered and fell onto the window sill. Paul dropped to the ground gracefully. He glanced back at Dawn in surprise for a few seconds but then turned his sights back onto the man as he straightened himself up. He rushed towards Paul, his hands raised in the air like claws.

"Don't mess with me," Paul warned. When the man didn't stop, Paul held up two hands, freezing the man's feet to the wooden floor. Paul pushed his hands out. The man flew backwards, crashing through the window and disappearing from view. Paul rushed over to window to see the man hobbling away from the house and over the fence.

The crash of the window had awoken Miss Delia upstairs. Within seconds she and Brock were in the room, looking around the room in shock and worry. Miss Delia straightened up when she saw Paul stepping away from the window and Miss Sapphire in Dawn's arms on the bed. Dawn looked around nervously wondering how she would explain this to everyone.

"What's going on in here?" Miss Delia demanded, "What was that noise?"

"There's a man in the garden," Paul told her. Brock nodded and rushed out of the room. Miss Delia walked over to Sapphire and placed a hand on her head.

"My, she's stone cold," Miss Delia gasped. Dawn looked worriedly between Sapphire and Miss Delia for a few seconds, watching as Miss Delia chewed her lip nervously.

It seemed like forever until Mr Stone trudged into the room looking very tired and slightly annoyed at being woken up. He rubbed his chin with his hand then leant on the door frame.

"What's going on?" he asked. Paul who had been looking out of the window, watching Brock as he scoured the garden, suddenly whipped round as though suddenly alarmed. His expression, however, was calm.

"Sir," Paul replied, "There was a man. He did something to Sapphire but I'm not sure what."

"She's like ice," Miss Delia confirmed from the bed. Mr Stone seemed to wake up suddenly. He rushed to his daughter's side and checked her out stretched arm. He looked concerned as he climbed on the bed, shooing Miss Delia and Dawn away as he pulled Sapphire into his arms. He stroked her cheeks gently then opened her eyes with his thumb but there was no response. Dawn hopped off the bed and stood next to it, waiting to see what Mr Stone would say. She flinched as she felt Paul walk up behind her and stand very close to her right arm. Compared with the chill of the night, Paul was very warm.

"Her magic has gone," Mr Stone muttered. He looked up at Miss Delia. "Can you please make me some tea?"

"Right away, sir," Miss Delia replied. She hurried out of the room as fast as she could. As she disappeared from the room, Drew trotted back into the room looking beyond annoyed. He tiptoed to the bed and hopped onto the blankets so he could get a better look at the girl. Mr Stone didn't seem to mind this, in fact he adjusted Sapphire in his arms so that Drew could get a better look.

"Did you see what happened Paul?" Mr Stone asked.

"No," Paul replied, "I only came in because I heard her door slam shut. When I came in there was a cloaked man making _her_ float in the air."

"Sapphire?" Mr Stone asked but Paul shook his head. He pointed at Dawn beside him. Mr Stone looked at Dawn as if he suddenly realised she was there. "Goodness. You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine, sir," Dawn replied.

"Did you see what happened?" Mr Stone asked.

"He made her float and then there was a blue mist which he absorbed," Dawn blurted like she was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. She looked between Paul and Mr Stone who shared completely stumped expressions on their faces. Slowly, Mr Stone nodded grimly.

"Paul, take her to the study," Mr Stone ordered Paul after a million year pause, "Make sure she is comfortable. I want to ask her more questions but first I need to make sure Sapphire will be alright."

"Yes, sir," Paul replied. Dawn was about to excuse herself when she felt Paul's warm hand cup her arm. She was pulled from her spot through the room and out of the door before she could protest.

The library door had been left open so in no time Dawn was surrounded by books and forced into one of the armchairs.

"Stay there," Paul told her then he left the room. Dawn sat on the chair in a very awkward manner, hugging her knees against her chest. For a few seconds she stayed alone until the cat trotted into the library with his head and tail held high. He leapt onto the table and stared at Dawn with his large green eyes.

Dawn was glad when Paul returned a few seconds later, holding a blanket in his hands. He passed it to Dawn gently before sitting down on the chair opposite her.

"Thank you," she muttered as she wrapped herself up in it. Paul shuffled in his chair, staring at her as oddly as the cat was. The cat twitched as he realised Paul was too close to him for comfort. The cat edged away from Paul as if Paul was going to throw him again. Paul noticed the cat's behaviour.

"Some help you were," Paul told the cat, "You left us to defend ourselves."

"You threw me a strange man in a cloak! The biggest threat in there was you!" the cat hissed at Paul. Dawn froze. The cat talked. It really talked. She stared at it in shock for a few seconds. The cat began to clean itself as if nothing was wrong, licking his paws with his long pink tongue. Paul glared at it, opening his mouth to retort but Dawn spoke before him.

"It… talked…" Dawn murmured. Paul and the cat looked at her.

"She can understand me?" the cat asked, going wide eyed, "Well… This is awkward."

"I saw her do magic earlier," Paul told the cat. Drew nodded.

"I didn't do anything," Dawn argued, "I yelled stop and he did."

"That's not what I saw," Paul remarked.

"Interesting," the cat said, wafting his tail this way and that, "What are the odds of having a magical servant girl?"

"I'm not magic," Dawn snapped, "I'm just a servant girl."

"Dear, you're talking to a cat and I am talking back to you," the cat told her, "You're either magical or crazy."

"She will be crazy after listening to you for a week," Paul muttered. The cat hissed at Paul in an annoyed way.

"My name is Drew," the cat introduced itself. It bowed low, wiggling its bottom at Paul. Paul flicked his fingers and the cat shot off the end of the table. Paul sat back in his chair with a dark smirk on his face as the cat landed on the floor with a satisfying thump. Dawn glanced at Paul. He obviously enjoyed harassing the cat, any one could see that. In a flash, Drew jumped back onto the table and hissed violently at Paul. "Cut that out!"

"What?" Paul asked, feigning innocence. Drew gave him a look before he turned back to Dawn.

"So, you have powers too?" Drew asked.

"Either that or I'm crazy, apparently," Dawn replied. Drew turned to Paul.

"She is a sorceress," Drew told Paul, "She talks just like you do."

"Don't bring me down to her level," Paul said, totally uninterested in what Drew had just said. He had picked up a book and was flicking through it.

"So what was that thing you threw me at?" Drew asked.

"I have no idea," Paul replied. He showed a page to Drew, pointing a specific part of the paper. "But he used this spell."

"You know what it was?" Dawn asked, excitedly, "That's great. You can help Miss Sapphire."

"I can't," Paul replied, "Because the man got away with her magic."

"Oh," Dawn said. She pulled the blanket round her tightly. What was going on? Why was the cat talking to her? Why did that man attack Sapphire? Dawn wished she knew the answers. Then the answer hit her: "It's a dream."

"Pardon?" Drew asked, turning to look at her.

"This is all a dream," Dawn replied. Paul glanced up at her now, staring at her with a weird look on his face. Dawn pulled the blanket over her chin, trying to hide from the stare Paul was giving her. Paul slowly looked back at his book but he wasn't concentrating on the words written there. He was staring at the page. There was something about Dawn he didn't like and now he'd seen her use magic there was definitely something he didn't like.

**Poor Sapphire :( Anywho, there will be another update tomorrow!**

**Please review!**

**RSx**


	5. Visits

**Here's update number two of this week! **

**Thanks to pokemonpuppy23, Midnight Singer, xRissychanx, AwesomeWolfLover, Dani4Short and splitheart1120 for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter Five: Visits**

Paul stared down at the young maid for a few seconds as he went to wake her up. He paused as his eyes travelled over her smooth features. She looked like an angel, curled up on the chair with her eyes closed. Her breathing was soft and gentle, in a steady rhythm.

What was she? She wasn't just a normal sorceress, she was just too odd for that. How could she have walked in here without any of them noticing that she had powers? Maybe it was because she didn't realise she had powers either. Or maybe she was hiding something from them. Paul wasn't sure but as he stared down at her, he felt butterflies flutter around in his gut. He clamped a hand over his stomach, grimacing at the feeling.

"Hurry up," Drew hissed after a short while Paul glanced over his shoulder at the cat. The cat suddenly became curious to why Paul was stood watching Dawn. Surely he should be taking great enjoyment in waking up the girl, perhaps scaring her awake, but the boy was just stood there looking slightly ill. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Paul replied, "There's something about her that makes me feel uneasy."

"Just wake her up," Drew told the apprentice. Paul growled slightly at the cat, not really liking being bossed around by him. Slowly, Paul reached out a hand and shook Dawn awake.

"Hmm?" she groaned as she opened her eyes.

"Get up," Paul told her coldly, pulling his hand back into his body quickly. Dawn stared up at him dumbly before she realised where she was. She pulled the blanket up over her chin and closed her eyes tightly.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Never mind that," Paul said, "You've got chores to do, now hurry up and leave."

"Yes, sir," Dawn stuttered as she got to her feet and hurried out of the room. She had just got to the door when Paul spoke to her again.

"And get me a cup of tea while you're at it," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," Dawn said then she was gone. Paul let out a short sigh the moment he was maid free. He rubbed his head slowly then turned to look at Drew who was staring at him curiously.

"What?" Paul asked the feline.

"Nothing," Drew mewed, "Nothing at all."

"Then why are you staring at me?" Paul snapped.

"Oh… you know," Drew replied, a small grin playing at his lips. If cats had common sense then Drew would have realised he shouldn't annoy Paul this morning. With a quick flick of Paul's fingers, Drew went soaring through the air, landing with a humph outside the library door on his head.

"Hey!" Drew hissed, "Watch it!"

The door was slammed in his face loudly, causing poor Drew to flinch. He sat on the landing for a few seconds, cleaning one of his paws slowly. His ears twitched as Dawn came running from down the stairs, frantically putting her hair up into a lopsided bun as she raced to the stairs that led to the kitchen.

"Miss Delia is going to kill me," she told herself as she rushed past the cat, not taking a blind bit of notice of it. Drew stared at her as she disappeared down the servants' staircase then got to his feet.

"Well, if nobody else is going to pay attention to her then I suppose I will," Drew said to himself, "I wonder…"

It was around midday when Dawn finally realised that she was being watched. She glanced up from cleaning the fireplace in the master's bedroom to see that Drew was sat on the bed, his tail wagging from side to side gently.

"What do you want cat?" Dawn asked.

"Drew," Drew corrected her, "If you don't mind."

Dawn yelped, dropping the cleaning brush and dustpan loudly onto the tiled fireplace. A hand clasped her dress where her heart was trying desperately to escape from her ribcage. Within seconds the door of the master's room was opening and Ursula's face appeared in.

"What are you doing?" she snapped. Dawn looked from Ursula to the cat on the bed.

"The cat made me jump," Dawn replied finally, "That's all."

"Stop making a noise," Ursula told her then closed the door with a snap as she left the room. Dawn let out a sigh, rounding on the cat who was still staring at her.

"What do you want?" she hissed at him.

"I've been watching you all day," Drew replied, "Haven't you noticed."

"I've been rather busy," Dawn said, "Unlike some people, I have to work. Now if you'll excuse me."

"Well, I can't help but be curious," Drew said. He raised himself effortlessly onto his four paws, his tail still wafting softly in the air. "I mean no one has ever stood up to Paul like you have, nor has anyone captured his attention like you have either."

Dawn blushed pink at the accusation.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" she asked, her voice squeaking. Drew licked his lips with his tongue, his eyes narrowing at Dawn.

"Nothing," Drew replied, "Nothing. Paul's just not a people person, that's all. Not that I can blame anyone else for avoiding him, lousy cat abuser."

"I have chores to do," Dawn said, getting to her feet and collecting her fallen equipment. She eyed Drew cautiously for a second or two then left the room. Drew hopped off the bed and padded along after her.

"Has the master talked to you at all?" Drew asked her as he caught up to her heels. Dawn glanced down at him, scowling at the fact he was still following her.

"No," she replied.

"It's not like him," Drew commented, "Even if Sapphire had a little bit of a sniffle he would stay home but now she's comatose…"

"Comatose?" Dawn asked.

"Not responsive to anything," Drew explained quickly, "The Medi-Sorcerer has been but he couldn't say anything about her condition."

"So he can't help her?" Dawn asked, her voice going up in pitch at the end. Worry flooded her eyes and she bit her lip. Drew shook his head sadly.

"What we need is a proper sorcerer looking into the matter," Drew told her, "Someone like Steven but… He's left for the palace already."

Dawn opened her mouth to speak but never got to say anything because the door of one of the rooms close to her opened and out stepped Paul. He closed the door quietly behind him, a cloak tucked close to his body. He turned to walk down the corridor when he saw Dawn and Drew staring back at him.

"Where are you going?" Drew asked the apprentice.

"Out," Paul replied, "Since I have no work to do, I thought I'd have a walk."

"A walk, huh?" Drew asked, a sly little grin crawling onto his face. He padded closer to Paul. "To get some fresh air?"

"Yes," Paul said stiffly.

"Well then," Drew said, his tail pointing over to Dawn sharply, "I think our little maid could do with some fresh air too. Why don't you have a word with Miss Delia and then you can have some company."

"Why would I do that?" Paul snapped. He stormed past Drew, not even pausing to throw Dawn a cold glare as he stormed over to the staircase.

"What a pity," Drew mewed loudly, "After all, if you're going to look for the man who did that to Sapphire, surely you should take your key witness, hmm?"

Paul froze on the top step. Slowly he turned round, glaring daggers at the cat.

"You're not that hard to figure out," Drew commented.

"Fine," Paul snapped. He glanced at Dawn. "Go get your cloak. Wait for me by the front door."

"Yes, sir," Dawn said, bobbing on the spot before she rushed away to grab her cloak from her room. Paul cast Drew another nasty glare then continued down the stairs. Drew grinned again and followed the apprentice down towards the kitchens.

"Miss Delia," Paul said as he entered the kitchen. The head of the household looked up from a newspaper she, Joy and Ursula had spread across the kitchen table.

"Master Paul," Miss Delia greeted with a bob, "Are you going out?"

"For a walk," Paul replied, "To clear my head."

"I'll tell the master if you're not back when he returns," Miss Delia said. Paul paused for a second or two. "Is there something else, sir?"

"I think that new maid should have the rest of the afternoon off too," Paul stated, "She's a little shaken up by last night. Keeps jumping at everything that moves. I've had to fix three vases because the cat startled her."

"Oh dear," Miss Delia sighed.

"She almost broke the master's fireplace too, ma'am," Ursula added, "She dropped the dustpan on it. She's just too clumsy to work here, you should send her back to that orphanage she came from."

"Well…" Miss Delia said slowly. Paul glanced at Ursula who was smiling quite sweetly at the head of the household.

"It's just nerves," Paul said, "I'll take her back to the orphanage though, if you'd like."

He turned on his heel and left the kitchen.

Dawn was fastening her cloak when Paul walked down the hallway from the kitchen. He threw his cloak round his neck and was fastening it with a silver pin with Miss Delia not far behind him. Her eyes widened when she saw Dawn standing by the door wearing her cloak.

"Take her with you," Miss Delia told Paul sharply, "But no where near that horrible orphanage, got that?"

"Of course not," Paul replied calmly, while Dawn looked rather confused and worried. Paul turned his head to Dawn and nodded towards the door. She quickly scrambled to unlock and open it so that they could leave. "We'll be home before dinner."

"Yes, Master Paul," Miss Delia said shakily. She turned to Dawn. "Be careful, Dawn."

"I will, ma'am," Dawn said with a nod. She quickly followed Paul out of the house and closed the door behind her. When the front door was safely shut, Dawn turned to face Paul wondering if he was going to tell her where they would be going. Had Miss Delia been serious about the whole orphanage thing? Maybe Mr Stone wanted her to go back there after what happened last night.

"We're going to call in at the Police Commissioner's house," Paul told her, "So stay quiet."

"A-alright," Dawn said.

As they headed out of the garden and onto the bustling streets, Dawn glanced at Paul for a few seconds.

"Why are we going to the Police Commissioner's house?" she asked him timidly.

"I want to see if there have been anymore attacks like Sapphire's," Paul replied, "If there have been then we can gather information and see what will happen to Sapphire."

"You said you knew the spell last night," Dawn said, "So why can't you just reverse it."

Paul stopped walking, turning sharply to face Dawn. She jumped backwards slightly as Paul glared at her.

"It's like trying to conjure water in a drought," Paul told her, "You can't reverse the spell if someone's stolen the thing you're trying to put back into a person."

"Oh," Dawn muttered, "I see. Couldn't you just conjure Sapphire's magic back to you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Paul snorted, "To conjure something you need to know where it is."

"Then why not try a finding spell or something," Dawn asked. Paul stared at her like she has grown an extra head before he scoffed and continued walking down the street. Dawn hurried along after him. "I'm not being very helpful am I?"

"You're doing better than you think," Paul replied, "Mr Stone hasn't been any help what so ever and neither has Drew. Look, if we find a starting point then we can branch out from there."

"We?" Dawn squeaked.

"You're the one who saw what happened to her," Paul said, "So like it or not, I need your help."

"Can't you just ask Mr Stone?" Dawn asked.

"I've tried," Paul replied dully, "And all Mr Stone said was that he was needed at the Palace because Miss Sabrina was in 'desperate trouble'. Don't you want to help me?"

"Oh…" Dawn mumbled, "Well… I want to help Miss Sapphire but… I'm just a maid."

Paul quickly turned a sharp corner causing Dawn to stumble as he went to open a white wooden gate. Dawn looked up at the house they had arrived at, her jaw dropping at the sheer size of the building. It was a large white building with a rather large front garden. There were two big bay windows on the front of the house, filled with coloured glass at the top. The garden was well kept with large trees shading the house from too much sun.

"Come on," Paul told her and Dawn was suddenly aware that Paul was stood holding the gate open for her. She hurried to him, skipping round him nervously so he could close the gate. Paul then led her to the front door where he rang the door bell.

The door opened smoothly revealing the face of a young boy with spiky brown hair. The boy paused then his face lit up into a large grin.

"Paul," he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you that too," Paul replied, looking slightly surprised at seeing the boy, "Visiting your uncle?"

"Yup," the boy said with a nod, "I accidentally blew up my mother's prized petunias. Your aunt thought it would be best for me to come and stay here for a few days."

"Probably the best idea," Paul agreed, smirking, "Petunias, really?"

"I was trying to make them bigger," the boy snorted, "Then boom. So what are you doing here?"

"Oh," Paul said, glancing at Dawn, "We came to talk to your uncle."

"Hi there," the boy said brightly, only just realising Dawn was stood behind Paul, "Come on in. I'll see if my uncle is about."

"Thanks, Gary," Paul said. Gary stepped aside, letting both Dawn and Paul into the house. Dawn looked around the entrance hall, her mouth falling open at the bright and airy space. What a space it was too. The staircase to the upper floor ran up both sides of the far wall, metal banisters making sure no one could fall down them. Hanging from the ceiling was a large crystal chandelier. Dawn couldn't help but gawp at the room.

"Where did you get her?" Gary whispered loudly to Paul.

"The orphanage apparently," Paul replied, not bothering to keep his voice down. Dawn flinched, feeling herself grow red. She quickly recovered herself and smiled awkwardly at the two boys.

"Sorry," she said, "It's just a really nice room."

"Alright," Gary sniggered, "Let me get my uncle."

"That would be nice," Paul said.

"It's like she's never seen a room before," Gary chuckled then he bounded up the stairs. Dawn's smile disappeared and she looked down at the floor sadly. This was a mistake. She shouldn't have come in this house with Paul, she should have waited outside. She felt Paul nudge her with his elbow. Dawn glanced up at him seeing that he wasn't angry at her or anything.

"Excuse Gary," he told her, "Like many of the other people I grew up with, he's a spoilt idiot."

"No, he's right," Dawn muttered, "It's just…"

"This is nothing compared to my father's house," Paul said, "But a bit of honest flattery will get you far."

"Ah Master Shinji," came an old sounding voice from the landing. Dawn and Paul looked up to see a greying man walking down the stairs hurriedly, walking stick in hand. "Gary said you were knocking at my door. What can I do you for?"

"Good afternoon, Mr Oak," Paul said, bowing his head. Dawn quickly bobbed next to him, bowing her head in respect too. "I was just wondering… if you had any information on Sapphire's attacker."

Dawn glanced at Paul, noting how his voice had changed somewhat subtly. It almost sounded like he was worried about the young girl, even his expression seemed to show that too. Mr Oak let out a sigh.

"I'm afraid not, Master Shinji," he said sadly, "There's been a few of these attacks but with no witnesses it's hard to find out who is to blame."

"There's been no other witnesses?" Paul asked.

"Not one," Mr Oak replied, "No one knows what happened to these poor people."

"I'm glad we came," Paul said suddenly, "It's just that Dawn here, one of Mr Stone's maids, saw the attacker."

"Oh my word," Mr Oak exclaimed, "Well come on in, let me get you a cup of tea."

Paul glanced at Dawn as Mr Oak hurried towards the front parlour, smirking rather triumphantly. Dawn frowned as she realised just what Paul had done: he'd planned this. Before she could tell him off for being so sneaky, he had placed a hand on her back and was pushing her into the parlour.

"Now, Miss Dawn," Mr Oak was saying to them, sitting on a cream armchair with a large leather bound notebook on his lap. He pointed over at a long cream sofa on his left, telling both of them to sit down so they could talk. Dawn couldn't say no so she walked over to the sofa, minding the short mahogany coffee table in front of the sofa, and sat down. Paul followed suit, sitting down on her right. "Tell me everything you saw."

"You tricked me," Dawn snapped the moment the pair of them were out of the house and walking down the cobbled streets. Paul glanced at her, smirking haughtily. "You took me there for one reason!"

"I needed something to bargain with and you did well," Paul told her, "And I've learnt a lot too."

"Oh really?" Dawn asked.

"There have been six attacks not including Sapphire's," Paul told her, "All of them happened late at night and all of them were young children."

"Do you think that the person got in so quietly because they used that silencing spell like in Sapphire's room?" Dawn asked.

"Probably," Paul replied with a nod, "I wonder…"

"Where are we going now?" Dawn asked suddenly as she realised they were walking further away from Mr Stone's house. Paul paused, glancing back at her with an almost impressed expression lighting his features. "We're going away from the house."

"That's correct," Paul agreed, nodding again, "I'm going to call on Mr Birch."

"Who's Mr Birch?"

"A scholar," Paul replied, "And one of the victims' fathers. Maybe we could get him to give us some information."

"You're not going to use me again are you?"

"Well… You do have your uses, Troublesome."

Unlike Mr Oak who had a bright and airy house, Mr Birch's was full to the rim of bookshelves and books. While waiting for Mr Birch to arrive from his master library (his wife was adamant he'd been in another book slide, as she called them), Dawn looked around the parlour nervously.

"Are all Sorcerers rich?" she asked.

"Mostly," Paul replied, "Apart from the stupid ones who gamble their money away. Oddly enough Mr Stone owns the smallest house out of all the Sorcerers I know. It's why I like it there."

"So sorry to keep you waiting," came the friendly tones of Mr Birch. He paused in the doorway, bowing his head to Paul, "What can I do you for, Master Shinji?"

"Actually, I came to ask you that myself," Paul said. Dawn stared at Mr Birch. He was nothing like the scholar she had imagined him to be. He didn't wear thick glasses or have greying hair, no, he looked perfectly healthy and young with chestnut brown hair and a wide face. "We heard about your son."

"Ah, Brendan," Mr Birch said sadly, "Yes, it's very sad."

"I wanted to offer you my help," Paul went on, "I mean, I'm just an apprentice but I'm rather fond of research-"

"You're trying to get information out of me, aren't you?" Mr Birch asked, "I heard about Miss Stone."

"It's because of what happened to Miss Stone, sir," Dawn said as Paul seemed too taken aback to reply. Mr Birch looked at Dawn interestedly. "He wants to help her and he knows that if anyone is going to crack the case then it's going to be London's greatest scholar, Mr Birch."

Mr Birch puffed out his chest at Dawn's words while Paul merely looked stumped at her.

"Well, I'm not that good," Mr Birch replied, though the egoistic glow still lit up his face.

"Oh but you are," Dawn went on, "Master Shinji was me all about you when we were walking here. He said that he wanted to help Mr Birch because if anyone could find out how to reverse the spell then it would be him."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy, dear," Mr Birch said, "I know how to reverse the spell but I need find their stolen magic to restore them. It's rather like trying to conjure water in a drought."

Dawn glanced at Paul as he nodded grimly. So Paul and Mr Birch were onto the same thought were they?

"Excuse me, sir," Dawn said slowly, "But if there was a drought, how would you conjure water if you had people dying of thirst? Wouldn't you find a way round it?"

"How would you do that?" Birch asked, seemingly amused by Dawn's question. Dawn thought about it for a minute.

"Well…" she paused, glancing at Paul. He looked impassive sat beside her. "I would make rain, sir."

Mr Birch let out a laugh then shook his head. Dawn flustered and began to blabber.

"You see the weather changes because of the atmosphere, right?" Dawn spluttered, "And clouds follow the wind? I would conjure a large high wind and make the rain clouds come to me."

"You're talking nonsense," Mr Birch chuckled. He laughed to himself for the next five minutes, gradually getting more hysterical. By the time he was bent over, thumping his chair with one of his large fists, Paul was on his feet.

"Sorry to waste your time," Paul stated, "But I'm glad we caused you some amusement."

At this Mr Birch fell silent, his eyes bulging out of his head. He shot Paul an apologetic look and rubbed his head with his hand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect," Mr Birch said quickly.

"We should be going anyway," Paul replied. He glanced at Dawn, nodding to her once. She jumped to her feet and bobbed politely on the spot. "We'll let ourselves out."

"No, no, let me," Mr Birch said, going pink in the face. He pushed himself out of his chair still looking embarrassed.

"Well, that didn't go as planned," Dawn mumbled as Paul took the lead once again. This time she noticed they were heading back towards Mr Stone's house but she didn't point it out.

"Actually, that was sort of fruitful," Paul replied, "You gave me an idea. What you said about the clouds and bringing the rain to you made me think."

"I was just being stupid," Dawn said quickly, "You saw how Mr Birch reacted."

"He's a fool," Paul stated, "Scholars are like that you know, they only see what they want. They can't think outside the box, not like you can."

"But… I'm not a sorcerer," Dawn snapped, "I don't know what I'm talking about."

"You've got more idea than some," Paul told her. He didn't say anything else until they were walking up the garden path of Mr Stone's house when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"That damned woman again," he snarled under his breath. Dawn was slightly confused until she realised he meant Miss Sabrina, the woman from the night before.

"Can I ask you something about her?" Dawn asked. Paul turned to face her, obviously agreeing to what she had just said. Dawn paused for a second or two to think how she could word what she was going to say next. "When you're around Miss Sabrina do you… feel as though you could eat candy?"

"No," Paul replied sharply. His lips were half way into becoming a sneer when his neutral expression returned as if a thought had hit him. "But I felt like reading a very old book. One in particular but then I remembered it's at my father's house."

"Oh," Dawn muttered, "Well… I really felt like eating candy but I've never really had them before."

"That is odd," Paul commented He let out a loud sigh, turning his head back to the house. "Well, we'd better get inside. Who knows how Mr Stone will be tonight."

**Phew, that's it for the double updates now I'm afraid. I really need to catch up with my writing too ^_^ Back to usual update times next week!**

**Please review!**

**RSx**


	6. Guests

**So I hope people enjoyed the double update last week ^_^**

**Thanks to Midnight Singer, LovelyLily13, splitheart1120, AwesomeWolfLover, Dani4Short, Sjir-sama and xRissychanx for reviewing ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my plot!**

**There's a bit of Ikarishippingness in this chapter too ^_^**

**Chapter Six: Guests**

"Well, well, Miss Sabrina," Mr Stone was laughing that night over dinner, a wide smile etched onto his face. He was telling Miss Sabrina about many of the men her worked with and funny stories about them. Like the time when Crasher Wake, the King's loudest and most brash wizard, had almost drowned himself at sea because he slipped but that wasn't as funny as the experimental spell Morty, a close friend to Mr Stone, was working on caused a few of the palace guards to spontaneously turn into chickens for a few days. Then there was the tale of Koga, a wizard who was so keen on researching the origin of magic that he hadn't been seen for years because he kept himself locked up in a room somewhere. Back in the dinning room, however, Dawn was pouring Paul a cup of tea, concentrating on not spilling it everywhere while Paul was slouched in his chair looking bored.

"Thanks," he muttered to her as she straightened up. She offered him a smile then sunk back to the wall.

"You know that as a boy I was very keen on collecting different rocks and minerals," Mr Stone went on, "But my brother was quite keen on stealing them and so my first magic spells were to protect them."

"Oh, Steven, that is rather amusing," Miss Sabrina replied. She turned her gaze onto Paul. "And you, Paul, what have you being all day?"

"Master Shinji," Paul told her, "And it's none of your business."

"Now, now, Paul," Mr Stone snapped, "There's no need to be rude."

Paul remained silent, casting Miss Sabrina a dark glare while Mr Stone glared at him.

"I believe Master Shinji went for a walk with Dawn," Miss Delia replied suddenly from beside the tea trolley. Dawn went rigid under the gaze of Miss Sabrina, her red eyes sparkling eerily. For a brief second Dawn felt her tongue salivate as her thoughts turned to candy again. She took in a deep breath and cleared her mind of candy, glancing down at the floor so that it didn't seem like she was staring at the guest.

"Is it wise to let your apprentice, and the Royal Prince, fraternise with a _maid_?" Miss Sabrina asked.

"Well I-" Mr Stone began but Paul cut him off.

"I'm not a 'Royal Prince'," Paul snapped, "And I was not fraternising."

"Paul," Mr Stone hissed. Paul turned to his teacher, his face wrinkled into a deep scowl.

"What's wrong with you, sir?" Paul asked, "Your daughter is in danger and all you're doing is doing whatever she wants you to? You love your daughter. Try to help her dam-"

Paul grimaced suddenly, putting his head in his hands as if he was suddenly struck with a headache. He massaged his temple for a few seconds while Mr Stone leant forwards to make sure he was alright. Paul glanced at Dawn through his fingers, a look of confusion written across his face. His eyes then darted across to Miss Sabrina who was simply sat in her chair looking pleasantly passive. Slowly Paul straightened up, shaking Mr Stone's hand off of his shoulder. His dark eyes were staring right at Miss Sabrina, a look of disgust present on his face.

"I think he's having a reaction to last night," Mr Stone said.

"Yes, it would seem that way," Miss Sabrina replied, "Children with his disposition usually suffer like this after some slightly disturbing event. Perhaps he should go to bed."

"Of course," Mr Stone agreed, "Paul, be a good boy. Er… New maid? Could you make sure he goes straight to his room and not the library?"

"Yes sir," Dawn said with a bob. To her surprise Paul didn't argue with Mr Stone. He simply rose to his feet, excused himself and led Dawn out of the room. As they climbed the stairs to the first floor, Paul seemed to relax. By the time they were outside his room he seemed back to normal. His hand rested on the brass handle of his room as he paused at his door.

"Is something wrong?" Dawn asked him.

"Later," he replied, "I'll tell you later."

"Er… goodnight, sir," Dawn said with a bob.

"Hn," Paul said then entered his room, leaving Dawn stood oddly in the hallway.

"_You want him to notice you, don't you?_" a voice chirped in her head causing her to shake her head violently.

"I'd prefer it if he left me alone," Dawn told herself. She then turned and left so she could rejoin Miss Delia in the dinning room, her thoughts not once returning to Paul for the remainder of the night.

As Dawn lay in bed later that night, she felt an odd sort of confusion bubbling in her chest. It was uncomfortable. Just as she was going to give up and roll over, she heard a quiet knock at the door.

Before she could ask who it was, the door opened. Drew trotted into the room with Paul not far behind him. Paul silently closed the door behind him and turned to face a very startled Dawn. She whimpered then pulled the blanket closer to her chest.

"What do you want?" she muttered.

"I told you," Paul snapped quietly, "I wanted to talk to you earlier."

"When?" Dawn asked, appalled that Paul had the gall to invite himself to her room without her invitation, not that she'd ever invite him up anyway.

"Don't worry," Drew told her, "I'm your chaperone."

"That does not help me one bit," Dawn grumbled, bunching up her blanket so she could sit up. She made room so that Drew and Paul could sit down on her small bed which Drew was only too happy to do. In seconds he had jumped up onto the mattress and was curled up by Dawn's feet. Paul was a little hesitant to sit down but after a few seconds he shivered and decided it was best to sit. He sat as far away from Dawn as he could physically manage.

"I wanted to talk to you about today," Paul told her, "About what we've found out so far and what we need to do next."

"Right," Dawn muttered. Paul went on to recap everything, even pulling out a small notebook from his pocket to show her his notes on what he'd worked out so far. Dawn was impressed with the amount of information he'd managed to get on such a short space of time.

"I was thinking about going to Reggie with this," Paul concluded, "But he'd be useless at it. Perhaps if I wrote a letter to Lydia…"

"Who are Reggie and Lydia?" Dawn asked.

"Reggie, or Reginald as he was christened, is my brother who works at the Palace," Paul replied, "Lydia is my cousin."

"Reginald?" Dawn giggled causing Paul to nod and smirk.

"It's even worse than my name," he added, "Rexamus."

"Rexamus?" Dawn asked, "That's a strange name."

"Yeah," Paul sighed, "Thus why I go by Paul, my second name."

"Oh, I see," Dawn said, glancing at Drew who was asleep. She poked the cat in the stomach but he didn't even twitch.

"Maybe it would be a bad idea to get them involved though," Paul muttered to himself, "Reggie would try to take over… Then worry that I was getting myself into danger. He's a worrier."

"If we're after someone who is stealing magic," Dawn said suddenly, as the thought caught up to her, "Couldn't we just set them up?"

"Hmm?" Paul asked.

"Like… bait them out," Dawn explained, "Give them what they want so we can follow them."

"That's a good idea," Paul muttered, "But who could we… Gary."

"Gary?" Dawn asked, "What about him?"

"We're going to use him as bait," Paul replied with a dark look on his face. Dawn let out a sigh.

"You'd make more friends if you didn't use people, Paul," Dawn told him.

"I don't want friends," Paul replied calmly, "People just distract me from my books."

"But there's more to life than books," Dawn said, "You can't learn everything from reading about it."

Paul regarded her for a second before he nodded slowly.

"That's true," Paul agreed, "But you misunderstand why I read so much."

"Because… you don't like people?" Dawn guessed.

"I'm actually fine with other people," Paul admitted, "Even the noisy people. I can deal with people no problem but…"

"Oooo," Dawn squeaked, "Is this something to do with Royalty?"

Paul chuckled under his breath and nodded.

"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for," he told her.

"It's not that," Dawn mumbled, "It's just that I saw it. You don't want to be a Prince."

"You saw it?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, like in my mind," Dawn explained, feeling herself fluster. Paul stared at her then sighed. He glanced at the sleeping Drew, his face falling into a deeper scowl than usual.

"Great," he muttered, "Just great."

"Maybe you should go," Dawn prompted him, "I have to be up early."

"Fine," Paul replied. He quickly moved off the bed and stood awkwardly on the spot wondering whether he should take the cat with him or not. Dawn carefully picked up the dozing Drew and handed him to Paul to carry downstairs.

"Please don't drop him," Dawn pleaded, "Not until you're in the library anyway."

"Alright," Paul replied, admitting that she did have a point there. If he was mean to Drew near the servants' quarters then Dawn and him could get in trouble. Paul left without another word but he paused to cast Dawn one final look before he disappeared behind the door.

The moment the door closed, Dawn let out the sigh. Her hand found itself over her beating heart which was ricocheting around her rib cage as she stared at the door.

"How odd," Dawn muttered.

"_You want him to notice you_," a voice chimed in her head. Dawn sat in silence for a few seconds before she shook her head.

"No," she said, "I don't want him to notice me because he already has."

Dwelling on that thought slightly, Dawn shuffled back down between her blanket and sheet. As she stared up at the ceiling she wondered briefly how she could get Paul to ignore her once again. She was just snuggling into her pillow when she heard the soft hiss of Drew following by his voice moaning at Paul. She giggled quietly before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Dawn hurried to open the front door the following morning. Whoever was calling was surely impatient, ringing the door bell over and over again. Eventually, Dawn swung the door open and went to apologise to the visitor when all the words died on her tongue.

"Took you long enough," Paul's friend, Gary, sneered as he stepped into the house. Dawn bobbed quickly.

"Sorry you were stood outside for a while," Dawn replied as politely as she could manage. Gary was looking around the hallway with an absent expression on his face. "Are you here to see Master Paul?"

"Shinji," Gary snapped turning to face her with a look of pure loathing on his face, "I don't know who you are but whatever you're doing, stop it."

"Stop what, sir?" Dawn asked, genuinely confused.

"You're supposed to be a maid, so act like one," Gary retorted, "And close the door its cold."

Dawn pushed the door closed, feeling the urge to kick Gary. Instead she showed him through to the lounge. Before she could ask him if wanted any sort of drink, Gary clicked his tongue.

"You really have no clue, do you?" he went on casually, "You're just a stupid little orphan girl who was just lucky enough to be dragged here. If you weren't here no one would even miss you. You are such a waste of space, a waste of space no one cares about."

Dawn could feel the anger bubbling in her stomach at his words. She bit down on her lip to the point where she was almost drawing blood. Just when she thought she was going to explode, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I see you're at your usual eloquence," Paul said to Gary although his eyes were on Dawn. A cautious glint shone in his eyes for a split second then he walked away from her. He walked over to Gary, frowning slightly. "I would prefer you don't upset that maid."

"Why not, Paul?" Gary snapped.

"Because she can take you down," Paul warned gravely, "You're all bark and no bite while she-" he pointed at Dawn "-is much better at looking after herself than you will ever be."

"Fine," Gary said, "Get us some drinks, then maid."

Dawn ignored Gary, instead looking at Paul before she asked: "Would you like tea or lemonade, sir?"

"Lemonade," Paul replied, "And bring Drew a saucer of milk if you don't mind."

"Yes, sir," Dawn bobbed and quickly left the room, all the while cursing the guest who was currently sat sneering at her. She quickly returned carrying a tray with a large pitcher of fresh lemonade, two glasses and a saucer filled to the brim of thick creamy milk for the cat.

"And what of it?" Gary asked Paul as Dawn placed the glasses and pitcher on the coffee table between them. Gary watched her carefully like he didn't trust her. Dawn ignored him, turning round and placing the saucer of milk on the floor for Drew.

Drew suddenly appeared in the room and padded towards the saucer.

"Thank you so much, Dawn," he purred before his pink tongue lapped at the liquid.

"_Master Shinji_ ordered it for you," Dawn muttered in reply. She stood up and turned back to Paul. "Will that be all, sir?"

"Could you possibly get me some tuna?" Drew asked, his tail swishing from side to side gently, "I fancy tuna for tea."

"I'll ask Brock," Dawn replied with a sigh. Gary spluttered into his glass of lemonade before shooting a glare at Dawn. She ignored him.

"That will be all," Paul told her. She bobbed again and left the room, still ignoring Gary. As she left the two guys chatting she wondered how good it would be if Gary suddenly disappeared into thin air. Stupid boy for being mean to her. Then she tried to push Gary to the back of her mind for the rest of the day, willing him to disappear all together.

Five minutes later Paul paused half way through a sentence just so he could stare at his friend.

"Something wrong?" Gary asked. Drew jumped up onto the table, looking somewhat amused. It took Paul a few seconds longer to reply in the form of a short chuckle. "What?"

"See for yourself," Paul replied, pointing at the mirror which was hanging over the mantelpiece. Gary got to his feet and walked calmly towards the mirror, letting at a yelp when he realised what Paul was smirking at. He had gone translucent. He could see through himself! Paul thought about it for a minute before glancing out of the door.

"Interesting," Paul muttered.

"Stuff interesting," Drew replied, "That is hilarious!"

**Slightly shorter than usual, but I can't put chapters 6 and 7 together, I'm afraid. Any way, I hope you've enjoyed. Please review!**

**RSx**


	7. Premonition

**I'm sorry guys but I have some rather bad news. I have a couple of deadlines coming up soon and they ain't small. I've had no time to write Kage, actually I've had hardly anytime at all and when I have had the time I've either been asleep or… sleeping. So from now until the 6th June, I am study bound. I'll try to write and update as much as I can but it may be a little hard for me to promise chapters week on week T_T**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time. You are aces! *hands cyber cake***

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter Seven: Premonition**

"Not that I like seeing my childhood friend going invisible," Paul said dryly to Dawn who was cleaning the library a few hours later, "but wasn't that going a bit over board?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dawn huffed as she struggled to swipe a cobweb out of the corner of the ceiling. Really, what did Ursula do while she was in here because cleaning wasn't it, Dawn thought grumpily. She jumped upwards finally swatting the cobweb away but in the process she slipped on some paper and fell off the drawers she was standing on.

With a strangled yelp and a thought of 'oh no, not again', Dawn fell off the table, waiting for the evitable hardness of the wooden floor. Instead, and to her surprise, she collided with something warm but stable, whatever it was wrapping its arms around her to steady her. It took her a few seconds to realise Paul had caught her. She wasn't expecting Paul to help her, or if he did she was expecting him to make her float in the air or something. She couldn't remember being so close when they had been talking but with the way he had caught her suggested he was standing right behind her. He didn't seem rushed at all, not even a hair out of place on his head.

"Trying to kill yourself again," he stated as she looked up at him, wide-eyed. Dawn felt her cheeks heat up as she pushed herself to her feet. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Dawn replied quietly. She never realised just how dark Paul's eyes actually were until she stared up at them. Nor did she realise just how warm he was, pleasantly warm in fact. Her cheeks heated up more and more the longer he held her up.

He was looking down at her, an impassive mask hiding what he was thinking. There was something not quite right with this girl and he knew it. His eyes flickered around her features hoping to get some clue as to what was wrong with her but all he could see was a normal, blue eyed, blue haired maid.

Finally she looked away from him.

"I need to get on with my chores," she mumbled. She felt Paul's grip on her loosen but then he tensed, his head snapping towards the library door where Ursula was stood. Her mouth was slightly open in both shock and glee.

"What do you want?" Paul snapped at her. Ursula's expression vanished, replacing it with a humbled look.

"I came to help Dawn out, sir," she replied. Paul let go of Dawn so quickly she almost fell over.

"One maid is enough in here," Paul said turning to look at Dawn, "Go try to kill yourself somewhere else."

"Er- Yes, sir," Dawn said, bobbing and blushing at the same time. She hurried out of the room, not even daring to glance at Ursula as she went past.

"Sir, I may have to warn you about her," Ursula said the moment Dawn was out of the door, "She's a gold digger, hoping to bewitch the master's mind. You're only young, sir, so you wouldn't understand the way a woman's mind works."

"I'm twelve," Paul snapped, "And who asked you anyway? Perhaps in the future you'll advise Miss Delia not to hire maids that have a habit of falling off things."

"Y-yes, sir," Ursula mumbled. Paul flashed her a glare then returned to his seat where his books were opened at the table. He idly went back to reading them until he felt the presence of Drew on the table next to him.

"What, cat?" Paul whispered.

"You suspect Dawn of something," Drew stated.

"There's something odd about her," Paul said in a hushed tone so that Ursula would not hear her, "but I can't place what it is."

"Well maybe you should gaze into her eyes again," Drew suggested, a smirk appearing on his cattish features. Paul was not impressed by this but he didn't say anything. Instead he turned back to his book, suddenly uninterested in it. Drew watched him for a few seconds, wondering what the teen was doing. Drew opened his mouth to ask Paul what was wrong but he never got the words out because Paul stood up and walked out of the room.

"That's decidedly odd," Drew muttered to himself. He glanced at the pink haired maid who was absently dusting at the other side of the room. Drew could pretty much hear her horrible gossipy thoughts about walking in on Dawn and Paul earlier despite her being silent. The malicious smile on her face said it all. Deciding it was better to see what Paul was up to, Drew hopped down from the table and left the room to find the young boy.

"You're not going to do anything you'll regret are you," Drew called as Paul opened the door to his room. Paul paused, turning his head towards the cat. For a short spell, the two of them stared at each other, saying nothing at all. Eventually, Paul turned his head away and opened the door, disappearing inside it. Drew sat down on the carpet, his tail wagging dangerously. The boy was going to do something stupid and there was only one other person who knew what he was planning. "At least he has a partner in crime. I can ask her."

He got to his paws and bounded down to the kitchens, carefree and determined to find Dawn. However, his adventure was cut short as a cage appeared out of no where and scooped him inside.

"Wah!" Drew hissed, taken by surprise.

"That was easy," Brock, the chef, said to Joy, sounding very proud of himself.

"Not a moment too soon either," Joy agreed. "Miss Sabrina will be here in no time at all."

Brock casually walked to the back door and dropped the cage loudly on the back step. Drew hissed loudly, spitting and clawing at Brock's shoes.

"He can stay out there," Brock said. He looked around the garden to see if he could find Ash who had been sent out to pick fresh flowers for the dinning table. "Ash!"

Ash's head appeared out of the top of a rose bush, a large goofy grin on his face. Drew glanced between the two servants as they talked to each other about the best sort of flowers for the dinner table. Irises, roses, carnations of many different colours were bunched neatly into the eleven-year-old's hand as he strolled towards the kitchen door like he was walking on air. Drew hissed as the boy walked past him. The flowers growing in the garden had been planted by Mrs Stone when she was alive and everyone was forbidden from picking any of the flowers that Mrs Stone had loved so much, even Sapphire and Paul. Why were the servants picking the flowers anyway? Why had they locked the cat in a cage?

"Typical," Drew moaned, "What am I going to do now? Paul! Dawn! Anyone who is vaguely magical, help me!"

But no one came to his rescue. Drew tried a few times to get the attention of anyone but to no avail. Grumpily he tucked his legs under his body and rested himself on his stomach, his tail twitching behind him. He had to do something soon otherwise Paul was going to do something stupid.

"Dawn!" Drew mewed loudly, "Dawn!"

"Dawn," Miss Delia said to Dawn seriously. Dawn knew she was in trouble ever since she had been asked to go and sit down in the kitchen opposite Miss Delia. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest as she looked up at the older woman. Miss Delia continued with an air of seriousness: "I've heard that you are spending too much time with the apprentice."

"Miss?" Dawn asked, hoping for clarification. Did Miss Delia know about the walk and the meeting later that night in her bedroom? Oh she was in so much trouble. No doubt Ursula had told her about what had happened in the library earlier, even though that was not Dawn's fault.

"Ursula told me what happened in the library," Miss Delia went on. She then paused to allow Dawn to reply. That's all she knew about, Dawn thought with relief although she didn't let it show on her face.

"Miss, that was a misunderstanding," Dawn replied, "on Ursula's part. There was a horrible cobweb by the large bookcase so I had to climb up onto the chest of drawers and dust it away but I slipped and Master Shinji caught me before I injured myself."

"Is that so?" Miss Delia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Then he wouldn't let go," Dawn added, "It was like he was trying to look into my soul."

"Your soul?" Miss Delia said, "What ever for?"

"I'm not sure," Dawn replied honestly. Miss Delia let out a sigh then pointed a warning finger at Dawn.

"This is a warning, Dawn," she said sharply, "Stay away from Paul Shinji. He's a wizard and not to be messed with. Any more incidents like this and I will have to punish you."

"Yes, miss," Dawn said.

"And don't kid yourself he likes you," Miss Delia went on, "You are not his friend, you are his employee."

"I know, miss," Dawn said.

"So keep it that way," Miss Delia told Dawn with a sense of finality. The woman stood up, giving Dawn one final serious look before adding: "Ursula will be serving at the table tonight. Behave."

"Yes, miss," Dawn said, her cheeks burning at the subtle telling off she had just received. Miss Delia walked away from the table, her shoes clicking on the tiled floor. Dawn was struck by a sudden thought and she quickly turned in her seat to look at Miss Delia. "Please, miss, how is Miss Sapphire doing?"

Miss Delia paused before glancing over her shoulder at the maid. There was a short pause then she continued towards the door.

"Same as yesterday," was the only reply she got. Dawn bit her lip as she thought about poor Miss Sapphire. If only Dawn could help her or even see her. No one had been allowed in Miss Sapphire's room since the attack the other night apart from the doctor and Miss Delia. Dawn glanced around the kitchen. Brock was busy cooking a large pork joint. Joy was arranging the flowers Ash had brought in for her while Ash was polishing the silver. They were too busy to notice anything at all. She heard Ursula saunter into the room.

"Oh look who it is," Ursula said the moment she saw Dawn. Dawn ignored her and Ursula, seeing that she wasn't going to get a reaction, quickly went to talk to Brock. "Master Paul is feeling a bit under the weather and will not be joining the master in the dinning room tonight."

Dawn slid out of her chair slowly, testing the waters. No one was paying her any attention until Ursula suddenly whipped round. She flashed Dawn a haughty smile then walked out of the kitchen and down the hall towards the dinning room. This was Dawn's chance. With nimble footsteps she dashed towards the stairs and ran up to the first floor. She darted across the hall to Miss Sapphire's room, pausing to check the coast was clear, then slipped into the quiet room.

Miss Sapphire was laid in bed, not even twitching. The curtains were drawn causing the room to be gloomy looking not that Miss Sapphire was in any position to complain. She was completely still and hardly breathing. Dawn tiptoed towards the bed to get a better look at the girl.

Poor Miss Sapphire, Dawn thought as he eyes drifted over her pale skin and her limp brown hair. She had lost her usual rosy cheeks and joyful expression. Dawn reached out to touch the girl's wrist but when she did she felt a jolt of energy. Dawn jumped backwards in shock. What was that? She reached forwards again and gripped Sapphire's wrist.

The moment their skin touched, Dawn felt a surge of energy flow through her.

"_Well this should be fun," a man with blonde hair and purple eyes said, "The little prince is looking for me, I feel honoured. I can guess his next step, after all the Shinji family is very simple minded. He's going to get to me by using someone else, it's just a matter of who is stupid enough to volunteer. Perhaps that little maid he had at the house."_

"_Don't mess it up," came another voice but Dawn was unable to see who was speaking. Wherever the conversation was taking place, it was dark and misty. _

"_I won't master," the blonde man said, bowing his head, "I will drain the little prince of all his magic."_

"_His childhood friend, the Oak boy, is in town," the unknown person said in a cold monotone, "No doubt the prince will use him first."_

"_I will go to him then," the blonde said, bowing his head once more, "And I will not fail, master."_

Dawn jumped out of her trance suddenly. Her whole body had gone tingly from the vision and her feet had gone oddly numb. She glanced at Miss Sapphire.

"Oh no," she muttered, "Paul."

Without caring how much noise she made, Dawn took off out of the room and down into the kitchen. The room was deserted, not even Brock was there. She had to tell someone that Paul was in trouble, that he had already snuck out while the Master was having tea. Maybe she should have checked his room before she came downstairs. She danced on the spot for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do.

"Can some at least get me some tuna?" called a voice from outside.

"Drew," Dawn breathed. She raced towards the kitchen door where she had heard Drew's voice drift from and opened it sharply. Looking down at the step she saw the cat curled up in his cage looking slightly annoyed.

"Drew," Dawn said, dropping to her knees so she could let him free. Drew stood up the moment Dawn talked to him, relief washing over his features.

"Dawn, you found me at last," he said, "Look we don't have much time. Paul's going to do something stupid-"

"I know," Dawn snapped, "I saw it in a vision. The man who attacked Sapphire has set a trap for Paul at the Oak house."

"Oh, that's not good," Drew said. Dawn finished unlocking his cage, allowing him to crawl out of it. He stretched on the spot quickly then walked over to the garden gate a hundred yards away. "We haven't got a moment to lose."

"Shouldn't we get Mr Stone or someone?" Dawn asked. Drew glanced towards the house bitterly.

"No," he replied, "If we go now we can stop Paul before he gets hurt."

"Right," Dawn agreed. She chased after Drew, almost skidding into the gate as she fumbled to open the lock. Just touching the black painted metal made her realise how cold it was outside but she had no chance of getting her cloak. She flung the gate open, letting the fancy twisted metal bang against the matching fence. Not caring, she ran down the side of the house onto the empty street with Drew at her heels.

"Where is Gary staying?" Drew asked. Dawn pointed down the street at a corner they were heading towards.

"This way," she panted, "It's not far away."

"Let's hurry then," Drew told her. He sped up and Dawn tried her hardest to keep up.

**Now that's done with, I'm going to continue with my work… *sad face***

**Before I go, I'm going to be putting some of my fics onto my blog as a downloadable PDF so you can take my stories with you if you have a Kindle or an iPad or something. If you go onto my profile and follow my homepage link, you should be able to find it no problem ^_^**

**Please review!**

**RSx**


	8. Thief

**OK so on top of my massive amounts of work, I am so sick at the minute T_T Not sick, sick; but my headaches are really bad again. Here's the next chapter of Magic and Spells for you all.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but at least I have Nurofen… That's all that matters to me at the moment…**

**Chapter Eight: Thief**

Paul stepped into the silent house of Commissioner Oak. The air seemed to be dead. Nothing moved, not even a light breeze through the leaves of the birch trees around the house. Paul would have been a little unnerved if it wasn't for the fact he was expecting the eerie feeling. Still, there was something wrong here and he could feel it.

He started up the grand staircase slowly, pausing when he realised he was not making a sound. Sure he wanted to be quiet but there was a difference between quiet and completely silent. Something wasn't quite right here but there was no turning back now. Armed with only his courage, Paul walked further up the stairs.

He'd been to Gary's room a few times when the boy was down from the North so Paul knew exactly where to go. All he needed to do was get to the room and wait in the shadows so that he could ambush the one responsible for all this mess. Paul crept down the long hallway towards Gary's room, careful not to make a single noise as he walked past Mr Oak's room. Thankfully, Mr Oak was snoring rather loudly beyond the door so Paul had nothing to worry about. He moved onto the next door: Gary's. Placing a hand on the wooden panel, Paul was just about to push the door open when he felt a buzz of magic hit him.

"Paul, don't go in the room. It's a trap!" Dawn's voice flashed through his mind along with her emotions of fear, worry and excitement. Paul stepped back from the door, glancing over his shoulder. She was coming here. This wasn't part of the plan but if what Dawn said was true and it was a trap then it would be better to-

There was an almighty crash and Paul was blasted backwards into the opposite wall. Splinters of wood washed over him as he struggled to cover his face.

"I was expecting you sooner," came a low mystical voice. Paul peered between his arms, biting his lip at the sight of the cloaked figure, the same person who had attacked Sapphire. Paul became well aware that Mr Oak was still snoring in his room which could only mean one thing: the entire house had been silenced, just as Paul thought. The cloaked man walked round Paul, stopping too close to him for Paul's comfort. "I was hoping you'd bring that maid girl. She was feisty. A magical maid, who'd have thought? I was sure you'd use her, not your best friend."

The man moved, pulling a glowing orb of green energy from his cloak. Paul's eyes widened in recognition; that was Gary's magic. Although it was beautiful to look at, and just as flashy as Gary was, Paul knew it would be bad if this man managed to run away with it.

"Oh, you want me to give back, do you?" the man taunted Paul, "Well, don't worry. I'll be taking yours too in a few moments."

The man reached out for Paul, grabbing him by the scruff of his collar. Paul wasn't really bothered by this because he was more concerned by the appearance of a rather troublesome maid at the end of the hallway. The silence spell had backfired on the man because he couldn't hear Dawn as she ran towards the pair, Drew not far behind her.

"Master Shinji!" she cried. She reached out to grab the man's arm, the one he was using to hold up Gary's magical orb, just as he began muttering a transportation spell.

"No, let go!" Paul ordered her but it was too late.

Dawn felt incredibly sick, like a lead weight had dropped in her stomach and flipped at the same time. Her heart looped round in her chest causing her to stumble and fall onto the cold floor. She felt the smooth stone under her palms as she gasped for air. In seconds she felt a strong pair of hands seize her and pick her up. She screamed. She screamed loud enough to make the cloaked man jump, drop her and stumble backwards all in one. Once out of his grip, Dawn dropped to the floor, landing painfully on her knees. She winced.

"Stop that racket," the man barked. Dawn looked up into his eyes, the purple irises spooking her slightly from underneath the hood. He smirked suddenly. "I'm so glad you could join us, magical maid."

Dawn became paralysed as the man leant forwards and attempted to stroke her cheek. She felt Paul tug sharply at her collar causing her to fall backwards away from the man.

"Don't let him touch you," Paul told her. Dawn nodded and scampered towards Paul's body, grabbing hold of his arm tightly. The man was not impressed by this but instead of shouting at them, he calmly raised his hands on flicked the hood off of his head. Paul tensed next to Dawn before he hissed:

"You?"

"You know him?" Dawn asked shakily.

"Yeah, I know him alright," Paul spat, "He works with Mr Stone. His name is Morty."

"Morty?" Dawn asked, "Who's Morty?"

"Mortimer Ecruteak, actually," the man said, "But what would a maid know?"

"Why are you stealing magic?" Paul barked. Morty let out a dark chuckle.

"Why not?" Morty replied, "I need something to power my glorious machine and the magical powers of children is just the thing."

"Why children?" Dawn asked.

"What machine?" barked Paul. Morty chuckled again then walked to the other side of the room where something covered in a dust sheet was stood. Even covered by the sheet, Dawn could tell it was a barrel like object with four iron feet. Out of it protruded a long metal shaft, like an overly sized gun. Morty uncovered it with a grand swish of the sheet revealing a large cylindrical machine with small glass windows in the main body of it. It was mostly made of metal with a control box on the top of the machine.

"This will mean the end of all the enemies of the king," Morty exclaimed, "The one true king of the realm."

"If you made that to defend the king, then why are you attacking Master Shinji? He's a prince," Dawn asked. Morty whipped round, a manic smile on his face.

"That's true," Morty replied, "He's the last ingredient I need to make this work. You see, all the magic I gather I put into the machine. It's made with reinforced steel so the magic can't return to its owner. When it charges, it totally obliterates whatever I fire it at without leaving a shred of evidence behind. The only problem is, it doesn't work on magic people, that's why I need the prince. The Royal Magic is a gold mine of power, the purest and most powerful in the land."

He strode towards Paul, who shuffled backwards until he was pressed against the wall. Dawn copied him automatically, without thinking. Morty towered over them, grinning at them.

"And when I have drained Paul's magic I will test it out on the maid," Morty cackled.

Dawn let out a little squeak, glancing at Paul for support. He seemed rather bemused with his back against the wall, like he couldn't believe what was happening. Dawn knew she had to buy more time so that Paul could think of a way out of here. They couldn't let this weapon be completed at any cost.

"Why did you use children?" Dawn asked.

"Child's magic is more potent," Morty said, almost like he wasn't interested. "Magic from a child has no boundaries because a child's imagination has no boundaries."

Paul grabbed her arm suddenly, causing Dawn to stare at him.

"He has to concentrate to ta-"

Paul didn't get to finish his sentence because Dawn suddenly found herself flying through the air and across the room. She landed painfully on the cold, hard floor with a crack and didn't move. Paul moved to help her but he found he was pinned to the wall by the bricks he was leant on. Dark clay hands had clamped him in place so he couldn't move. Morty was now hovering above him, his hand raised in a menacing sort of way.

It was a strange feeling, having your magic drained from you. Paul found it was rather like taking a very long breath out without being able to stop. A purple coloured mist rose from his body and began to stream into Morty's open hand, collecting into a ball in his palm.

"That's it," Paul heard Morty say, "Give me all your magic."

"D-Dawn," Paul choked out. He couldn't let her die or anyone else for that matter. Scrunching up his features, Paul began to fight Morty's spell.

Across the room, Dawn's eyes flickered open as she heard Paul say her name. She sat up groggily before the events of the past ten minutes caught up with her. She jumped to her feet, ignoring the horrible sensation of pain ripping through her ankle, and dashed over to Morty's machine. She looked round it but couldn't find anything to dismantle it. What should she do?

She glanced back at Paul and Morty who were by the far wall. Morty was attempting to extract Paul's magic from the teen but Paul, the stubborn boy he was, was fighting back. She had to help him.

Dawn's eyes flickered onto a large wrench which Morty must have used in the assembly of his machine. It was just laid on the floor, not doing much. Dawn made up her mind. She struggled to pick up the wrench, because it was heavier than it looked and it looked rather heavy to begin off with, and then swung it so it hit the machine. There was an awfully loud clatter of metal on metal but the machine was still in one piece.

Dawn tried swinging it again, this time throwing her hips in to gain more power. Again there was a clatter but the machine still stood. What else could she do, she wondered until she had the idea to drop it. Dawn noticed that there was a ladder by the wall next to the machine.

"Of course," she muttered to herself. She tucked the wrench under he armpit and hurried to the ladder. She climbed up and up, the wrench becoming heavier the higher she went. She could hear Paul's pained grunts from the other wall. Morty was wearing him down so she didn't have long; she just hoped this worked.

At the top of the ladder, a good five feet about the machine, Dawn stopped and hurried to drop the wrench. She fumbled slightly and the wrench slipped from under her armpit and fell towards the ground.

"No!" she yelled, reaching out to grab the wrench. As soon as she yelled the wrench changed direction and hurtled towards the machine instead. It hit the machine right on the top, puncturing a hole in it. Dawn paused, wondering what she should do now.

The hole in the machine began to light up until it suddenly erupted into a ball of light. Dawn screamed, jerking Morty and Paul out of their battle.

"No! What have you done?" Morty roared at Dawn. He rushed to try and fix the machine but it was too late. Orbs of magic shot out of the hole and danced around the room menacingly before disappearing. Morty let out another roar as he tried desperately to stop the machine from being destroyed completely but there was no hope in that.

Dawn screamed yet again as the machine exploded, taking out the lower part of the ladder she was clinging too. The aftershock was enough to knock any one out.

Paul came too who know how long after. The spell which was keeping him to the wall had disappeared so he was free to move again. He stumbled to his feet, relying heavily on the wall for support.

There was a thick fog of dust and debris hanging in the air. Paul coughed as he sucked in a breath. Slowly he hobbled over to the mound of rubble which had been caused by the explosion.

"Dawn?" he said, his voice sounding gruff. There was no answer. He began to dig through the rubble with his bare hands. "Troublesome? Troublesome? Dawn?"

His fingers raked through some long hair and quickly became tangled in it. He paused then renewed his efforts as he hurried to uncover Dawn. Her hair led him to her head, her head to her shoulders and torso. When her arms had been cleared, Paul gently pulled her from the rest of the rubble and picked her up easily.

He didn't carry her far, he was too exhausted for that. He managed to get her to the other side of the room before he placed her down so he could check her for injuries. The dust made her look gaunt and pale. She wasn't moving at all like she was dead or something. Paul stroked her face, relieved when he felt warmth on her skin.

"Paul?" a voice from somewhere echoed. Paul turned his head slightly to see a cat pad into the room, his green fringe already collecting dust.

"She needs help," Paul said, although his voice broke. He didn't mean to sound so desperate but it just happened. He wasn't really that worried either. She was warm, she wasn't dead. Maybe it was the explosion that made him feel a little jumpy. As the cat scampered over to the two, Paul rubbed some dust from his face, careful not to rub his eyes for fear of Drew making a wrong assumption. The cat sniffed Dawn then turned his large green eyes onto Paul. Whatever Drew was thinking, he didn't say anything. He merely did a U-turn and scampered away to find help leaving Paul to take off his cloak and drape it over Dawn's limp body.

Miss Delia was going to kill him for this…

**Poor Dawn :( Well, that was the first mini-climax of this story. There will be a fair few of these with other bigger, more sinister climaxes later on ^_^ Well, once I finish my degree T_T**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review!**

**RSx**


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